Suso equaliser and Sergio snub ensure a sour end for Shiels

Published on Monday 13 February 2012 02:04

ONCE upon a time football writers went to games to report on what happened during the 90 minutes of play. Today we turn up to gather the participants’ quotes following the latest diplomatic incident between managers or players.

The pre and post-match strops between Kilmarnock manager Kenny Shiels and his Edinburgh counterpart, Paulo Sergio, provided a ‘highlight’ for what was, admittedly, a very poor match. Sergio did not go quite as far as carrying out his threat to wring Shiels’ neck over the latter’s remarks that the Hearts manager should quit over interference in team selection, but there was tension in the air throughout the day.

The first half was particularly grim, eliciting just five notes, two of which were to record bookings. Those fans who refused to pay the high price which the SPL demands for witnessing such dross were the wise ones – 4,237 is a terrible crowd for what is supposed to be a game between two of Scotland’s better sides.

The tone had probably been set by the managers’ pre-match differences, and in less than 90 seconds we had the first flashpoint. Killie’s Belgian new boy, Dieter Van Tornhout, slid in on ex-Rugby Park player Jamie Hamill on the halfway line. Hamill’s leap away from danger brought him down, studs first on the Belgian, sparking mayhem and yellow cards all round.

Van Tornhout later missed the best chance of the game, when he sent a free diving header wide from a great Jamie Fowler cross. This chance, Mommo Sissoko’s header, which was tipped on to the bar by Hearts goalkeeper Jamie MacDonald, and a header from Tynecastle captain Marius Zaliukas which drifted over the top comprised the first half “excitement” for the fans. There was also a 36th minute booking for Kilmarnock’s on-loan Celtic player Lewis Toshney for a two-footed challenge on Danny Grainger.

The second half was marginally better, with early goal threats from a Mehdi Taouil 20-yarder, saved by Cammy Bell, and a Dean Shiels free kick, touched onto his bar by MacDonald. But the real improvement came with Van Tornhout’s 54th minute dismissal for another sliding challenge, this time on Ian Black. Killie had been second-best at 11 v 11. At 10 v 11 and with their collective dander up, they showed more pace and urgency, the game became less of a stroll and more of a battle for the visitors’ defence.

Andy Webster, later booked for kicking the ball away, and Hamill fired over in rare Hearts’ attacks, but, with the game seemingly heading for the epitaph: “a draw, no football”, the Ayrshire-men struck in the 79th minute.

Michael Nelson embellished his home debut by powerfully meeting Shiels’ corner from the left, MacDonald could only parry the header and Paul Heffernan reacted quickest to stab the loose ball home. Hearts’ ferocious riposte saw Hamill follow Van Tornhout up the tunnel early, his late challenge on Garry Hay meriting the yellow card rather more than his second minute one had. At this point, the first of the away fans left, reconciled to the fact it wasn’t their day. They should have hung around for, to their credit, Hearts kept playing. As the game edged into the final one of the three added minutes which Euan Norris allowed, Taouil swung over a cross from the left and Suso Santana, whose 74th minute arrival had brought new energy to Hearts, ghosted in at the back post to head past the diving Bell. A share of the points was no more than Hearts deserved.

Kenny Shiels’ post-match offer of a handshake was spurned by Sergio, an action which Jimmy Nicholl, who stood in for his fellow Irishman in the post-match press conference admitted he could well understand. “I admire the guy for sticking to his principles”, said Nicholl, who added that at least he would not come into work this morning to be greeted by ‘I’ve opened my mouth again Jimmy’ from Shiels. Nicholl added: “It was a disappointing game, which was going nowhere.”

Sergio was happy with the manner in which his side kept going; diplomacy personified, he wished injured Killie captain Manny Pascali a speedy recovery, praised the four match officials, repeated his criticism of Kenny Shiels’ “lack of ethics”, then departed.

Taken from the Scotsman