Gunning a shot through weak Hearts

Published on Sunday 26 February 2012 03:42

HEARTS manager Paulo Sergio must have had a premonition when he said the other day that his team’s only ambition should be to finish in the top half of the Clydesdale Bank Premier League. Goals by Jon Daly and Gavin Gunning at Tynecastle yesterday sent the Edinburgh side thudding down two rungs of the SPL ladder into sixth position.

Hearts have lost all three of their matches against United this season. You wouldn’t tip them to buck that trend in their fourth, if indeed there is one after the split. With just one point from their last five league matches, they look suspiciously like they have gone into freefall, caught up at last by their diminishing resources.

Already without several players through injury and suspension, they lost two more – Ian Black and Marius Zaliukas – during this one, leaving Darren Barr and Ryan McGowan as their central defensive partnership. Although Craig Beattie has been signed from Swansea City, he was fit enough only to be paraded at half-time. David Obua was jeered off the pitch when he was replaced by Andy Driver.

This was no condition in which to match a Dundee United side who have lost only four away games this season, three of them to the Old Firm. “It’s not what the Hearts history deserves, and it’s not what the supporters deserve, but it’s our reality at the moment,” said Sergio. “All the squad has changed. We lost four important players in January. We came into this game without another three. To lose two more in the game… it is too much for the team.”

United were not at their best, but they withstood Hearts’ early pressure, stifled them in the second half, and took the points courtesy of two set-piece goals. Gunning, who was outstanding throughout, might have scored twice. “Everything that came into our box today, he was on the end of,” said Peter Houston, their manager. “He will be a decent player if he keeps progressing the way he is.”

On a cold, blustery day in the capital, Hearts had adapted more quickly to difficult conditions, eagerly closing down their opponents and putting them under pressure with a regular supply of ball from the wings. Jamie Hamill, in particular, stretched their back four with a couple of deceptive crosses, one of which David Obua headed back across goal so that Stephen Elliott could spin and shoot. It was an easy save for the goalkeeper, who was tested more seriously when a speculative ball, again by Hamill, threatened to drift into the far corner. When Dusan Pernis pawed it from under the bar, Robbie Neilson headed to safety.

Hearts had most of the ball, but they were not given the freedom to use it. Several players fell victim to what was a physical, high-tempo exchange. First to succumb was Black, who took a nasty one in the ribs. The midfield player tried to carry on, but shortly before the interval, he conceded defeat. Then Zaliukas, who had Barr alongside him in the absence of the suspended Andy Webster, remained in the dressing room at half-time with a knee complaint.

It was no place for the faint-hearted. Young Gary Mackay-Steven was given a rough time of it on the left touchline, repeatedly berated by Houston, who wanted more from his team. All they had to show for the first 40 minutes was a header by Sean Dillon, after Willo Flood’s corner, which Jamie MacDonald tipped over the bar. It should have been a warning for Hearts that, however much possession you have against the Tayside team, they will forever be a threat at set-pieces. And so it proved four minutes before the interval when Barry Douglas, in for the suspended Paul Dixon, swung a free-kick across the box. Half a dozen players competed for the ball, but it was Daly who wanted it most, directing a firm header beyond MacDonald from ten yards.

Where the first half had been bright and open, the second was stuffy and ill-tempered. Danny Grainger, the former Dundee United player, bore the brunt of it. He had a penalty claim turned down, when Flood was accused of shoving him over in the box. Then he was accused of exaggerating a foul by the same player.

It wasn’t until 11 minutes from the end that a goalkeeper was tested in the second period. Suso, on for Zaliukas, threaded it to Skacel in the box, but with time and space to pick his spot, the Hearts player could only strike Pernis’s body. When Skacel then fed the loose ball to Elliott, United had Gunning to thank for a timely challenge.

Gunning had been the key to United’s tight defensive performance, but five minutes from the end he showed that he can be just as effective at the other end. Not only did he put United two ahead by heading in Mackay-Steven’s corner, he nearly made it three with a similar attempt from a free kick by Barry Douglas.

Taken from the Scotsman