Kilmarnock 1 Hearts 1

Feb 12 2012 by Scott McDermott, Sunday Mail

Kilmarnock take the lead through Paul Heffernan's goal against Hearts

PAULO SERGIO branded Kenny Shiels a clown – and the Hearts boss had the last laugh.

The Jambos secured a point on Killie’s home turf in a stormy match that reflected last week’s war of words between the rival gaffers.

Paul Heffernan’s strike with 12 minutes left looked to have won it for Shiels’ men before Suso
Santana’s injury-time header.

But the ill-tempered clash, that saw both sides reduced to 10 men, was overshadowed by the touchline antics of Shiels and Sergio.

At least a row over a handshake isn’t unique to the Premiership. For Luis Suarez we had Sergio and for Patrice Evra we had Shiels.

Granted, the racism row that reverberated again in Manchester United’s win over Liverpool was a bit more serious than this.

But prior to kick-off at Rugby Park it was all anyone was talking about as Hearts arrived in Ayrshire.

In the build-up, Shiels accused Sergio of lacking principles by not standing up to owner Vladimir Romanov. The Portuguese coach retaliated, branding Shiels a clown and vowing to wring his neck.

The Hearts gaffer clearly hadn’t calmed down by the time he took his place in the dug-out yesterday.

Shiels put out his hand but stubborn Sergio refused point blank to call a truce.

That set the tone and within 60 seconds Killie new boy Dieter Van Tornhout was shown a yellow card for clattering Jamie Hamill.

The Belgian almost made the breakthrough with a diving header that slipped wide.

Then Mo Sissoko’s looping header from a Garry Hay free-kick clipped the top of the Jambo bar.

Hearts lacked genuine quality up front but Rudi Skacel forced the first save from Cammy Bell from Ian Black’s corner.

Next Bell smothered a long-range Mehdi Taouil shot then Dean Shiels stung the palms of Hearts keeper Jamie MacDonald with a fiercely hit free-kick before the interval.

The game sparked into life in 52 minutes. Van Tornhout slid on late again on Hamill and ref Euan Norris flashed a red.

Hearts almost took advantage and Stephen Elliott flashed a header wide – but 10-man Killie took the lead in 78 minutes. Shiels’ corner was met by Michael Nelson and his nod was blocked by MacDonald.

Heffernan showed a predator’s instincts to knock the rebound over the line.

The Jambos’ day got worse a minute later when Hamill saw red for a late lunge on Garry Hay.

Killie looked home and safe only to concede the equaliser deep in injury time.

Taouil’s inch-perfect cross was met flush by Santana who guided his header past Bell to salvage a point for the Jambos.

That wasn’t enough to placate Sergio who got involved in more rammies after full-time. He refused another handshake with Shiels then got involved in more verbals with Dean and Killie stopper Nelson.

The Portuguese gaffer claimed his side were better than Killie and deserved more than a point.

He said: “We showed character to come back and get a point.

“Normally Kilmarnock have very good possession but they didn’t have the ball.

“We were the ones playing well but we had a lack of freshness up front. The pitch was bad and that helped Kilmarnock because they got behind the ball.

“At least we got a point, which was more than deserved.

“We were the only team on the pitch – Kilmarnock were just efficient from set-pieces which got them a goal.

“We definitely deserved more.”

Shiels jetted off to Northern Ireland straight after the match and it was left to Killie hero Heffernan to fight his corner.

And he blasted Sergio’s claims the Rugby Park stars talk about their gaffer behind his back.

He said: “I don’t know where Paulo has got that from. The Killie lads are all behind our manager.

“We all believe in what he’s trying to do at the club so I don’t agree with Sergio at all.

“The lads have been talking about the spat between the managers but we’ve had a laugh about it. It’s all mind games.

“No player likes to hear their manager being called a clown.

“You want to win anyway but those kind of headlines give you a bit of extra incentive.

“The gaffer calls it how he sees it, he speaks his mind to the press and the players. If he’s not happy with something, he’ll tell you. He’s open and honest and I certainly don’t mind that. As a player, that’s what you want.”

Heffernan admits he had to calm down Dean Shiels at the end – but says the Killie men were more upset at losing a late equaliser.

He said: “There was shouting in the tunnel and Dean was riled. I tried to calm him down. I’m not sure what was wrong with him.

“We’re just gutted to lose a goal in injury time. We thought my goal had won the points despite us going down to 10 men. We got in front but we’ve been hit by a sucker punch.”

Rugby Park No.2 Jimmy Nicholl added: “The sending off changed the match – it turned the game in our favour. We went 4-3-2, got a grip of the ball and scored the goal.

“But we conceded a simple cross and header at the back post.

“If Hearts had have done something wonderful to get a draw, I’d have said they deserved it – but they didn’t.”

Taken from the Daily Record