Deal-seeking Rudi Skacel still a class act

By ALAN PATTULLO at TYNECASTLE
Published on Monday 16 January 2012 00:56

IF it is to prove his last Tynecastle appearance – and he expressed the hope that it wouldn’t be – then this was a delirious way for Rudi Skacel to sign off.

The midfielder reprised last season’s hat-trick performance against St Mirren to again dismay the visitors, who found the ten men of Hearts too industrious to cope with.

Much comment has already been made about the spirit at Tynecastle against a backdrop of unrest off the field of play. Today, on the 16th day of another month, all eyes will again be on the club. Yes, it is wages day again. It would be an extreme slap in the face if payment is not made on time after a performance which saw ten Hearts players do the work of eleven.

Steven McLean, the referee, added five minutes of injury time and they were processional moments as far as Hearts were concerned. Cheers greeted passes and goalkeeper Marian Kello was urged to swing on his bar. The hard work had already been completed – and work Hearts did to achieve this win, edging ahead in the opening minute of the game and then going on to salvage victory from what had seemed a very unpromising set of circumstances.

Marius Zaliukas had a surreal afternoon. He probably did not expect to watch Hearts move into third place in the league from the front row of the directors’ box, where he sat for the majority of the afternoon. He contributed a far shorter shift to that of his team-mates, though it was incident packed.

The centre-half gave Hearts the lead with a header from Ian Black’s corner inside the opening minute. Danny Lennon, the St Mirren manager, had barely made it from the tunnel to the technical area. “I just saw the ball hit the net,” he said afterwards. He had only just settled himself into place before the penalty incident that saw St Mirren quickly re-establish themselves in the game.

From Hearts’ point of view, the concession of a goal was less distressing than the loss of a man. Zaliukas was deemed to have robbed the impressive Paul McGowan of a scoring opportunity when bringing him down as he prepared to shoot. It might have been more prudent to let him have the shot on goal. The consequence of Zaliukas’ action was that Hearts conceded a goal anyway, McGowan picking himself up to convert the penalty kick. Hearts then had to devise a game-plan for ten men, with Zaliukas required to make a swift return to the dressing-room with only the memory of his first goal of the season to comfort him.

St Mirren quickly profited from the advantage in numbers, Steven Thompson heading home a Gary Teale cross seven minutes later.

Most people in the stadium now expected the visitors to seal a commanding victory. But what they hadn’t factored in was Skacel’s determination to ensure that he is speaking from a position of strength when negotiations over a new contract resume again this week. Hearts’ decision to hand him only a short-term deal in the summer, due to concerns over his fitness, could now cost the club as Skacel prepares to strike a better deal for himself, as he is entitled to do.

His preference, it seems clear, is to stay at Tynecastle. “If it is [my last game] it was a good thank you and goodbye,” he said, before adding, with reference to his contract, that he hoped his second spell at the club could be extended.

Asked to explain why he had only signed until January, he said: “Because I was injured at the start of the season. We made a solution. We are here. Maybe they will offer me a new five-year deal! We will see.”

Skacel certainly proved that he has much still to offer either Hearts or any potential suitor with a hat-trick of quality. The exhibition began after 22 minutes. This goal was, perhaps, the pick of the bunch, though it had relied on the referee’s decision not to penalise what looked like a nudge by Skacel on Graham Carey as he strove to shake off his opponent.

It was possible that even Skacel expected McLean to award a foul against him for his strike, from 20 yards, was hit with a definite sense of abandon. The ball tore into Craig Samson’s top corner. The goalkeeper was well beaten at both of Skacel’s further goals, the second coming from the edge of the box and the third from a similar distance, with a reverse shot into the other corner of the net.

Before Skacel could stuff the ball up his jersey John Sutton added a fifth goal, after Samson was penalised for picking up what was interpreted as a pass-back by Marc McAusland. Sutton smashed the ball into the net and over the raft of fretting St Mirren players assembled on the goal-line. “I am very proud of the players,” said Paulo Sergio, the Hearts manager. “After ten minutes we play with one man down and, I have to say this, against one of the teams who, in my opinion, play better football in the league.”

He appealed for the value of teamwork to be acknowledged. “Today we have to talk about Rudi Skacel after three fantastic goals,” he said. “But I want to talk about the team. It was team work which allowed Rudi Skacel to score the three goals.”

The manager bristled a bit when asked the question which had to be asked. Does he expect wages to be paid on time today?

“Yes, I expect that to happen, because that is what was said to us by our director,” he said. “But why are we talking about that at a moment like this? We are football professionals. We are all the time talking about problems, about wages, and about player departures, and things like that.

“We go to Easter Road to beat Hibs, and no-one spoke about that. They speak about wages and things like that. One man down for 85 minutes, we talk about wages. I want you to speak about the quality of our game and our players, okay?”

Consider it done, Paulo.

Taken from the Scotsman