Jamie Hamill gets Hearts restarted

“WE DON’T have our troubles to seek.” It was an almost unnecessary lament from Rangers manager Ally McCoist. A simple case of stating the obvious.

Everything is a struggle for the folks at Rangers these days. On the field and off it, there are no foregone conclusions. And the frustration is showing. McCoist said that two weeks ago he had felt like slitting his wrists after his men failed to serve up a win to the fans who had packed Ibrox in the wake of the club heading into administration. It may be a recurring thought for the Rangers gaffer after his side lost again,

“I can’t believe I’m sitting here talking about a 2-1 defeat. Quite frankly I’m staggered that we were beat,” he confessed.

For several of his players there is a chance that this will be their last game for the SPL champions. He said he had asked for them to go out and support each other and give their all and he said they had done that. But still they lost.

They went into the second half with a one-goal lead but couldn’t keep it. But when the club is battling for its existence and the players are focused on trying to hang on to their jobs, hanging on to a lead could never be considered a significant priority.

But still the emotions spilled over. If the manager has been the epitome of poise and dignity as the club’s administration ills have cast a dark cloud over the past few weeks then his players showed little of that composure yesterday as the match began to run away from them.

Hearts set out to frustrate and boy, did they succeed. But they weren’t the only ones. Referee Crawford Allan was booed off the park after he not only ignored appeals for two Rangers penalties but compounded the injustice in the eyes of the home players and fans by then pointing to the spot when Andy Webster was fouled by Dorin Goian in the 79th minute.

At that moment the score was level and while Jamie Hamill’s initial spot kick was blocked by Allan McGregor, the cheers from the home support almost choked them as the Hearts full-back followed in and slammed the rebound into the net.

It was enough to give Hearts victory. It was one they enjoyed, having taken just one point from their previous five SPL matches and, despite McCoist’s comments, it one they can argue they deserved. Rangers may have dominated territory and possession for long spells but unlike Hearts they didn’t make the most of their opportunities.

Hearts manager Paulo Sergio said he was “very happy with the result – not just because it’s Rangers or the fact we are at Ibrox but because we hadn’t won for five or six games. But I don’t want to speak about the game as a sign of respect to the Rangers professionals because of the problems they are in.”

Midfielder Ian Black was less reticent. He extolled the work ethic of the Tynecastle side, who battled hard for the win. “We knew we had to work hard because we had been struggling but all the boys were delighted at the end.” The midfielder had a painkilling injection to allow him to play despite a rib injury and he weighed in with the equaliser.

“Rangers are strong and have great ability throughout their team,” he said. “It takes a lot to get a result against them but our boys worked hard for it. You also need a wee bit of luck and we got that today too.”

That good fortune came when they evaded punishment for a couple of dubious challenges in the box before getting their own penalty.

The award had infuriated the Rangers players, with Carlos Bocanegra booked for arguing his fellow defender’s innocence far too vociferously in the official’s mind. And once the goal was scored the mood turned fairly combative, with yellow cards being sprayed about liberally.

With backs to the walls for a significant portion of the opening 45 minutes, Hearts’ defence was eventually breached just seconds before the interval. The cut-back came from Andrew Little and Steve Davis struck it low and firm. It looked like Jamie MacDonald would still stop it, as he had the half-chances previously dispatched in his direction, but somehow it squirmed through him and the keeper was a disconsolate figure as he trudged off the turf shortly afterwards to undoubtedly apologise to his team-mates.

In a tedious first half the hosts huffed and puffed and they had cause to rue the lack of reward for that endeavour when Hearts came back at them courtesy of Black’s wonderful strike. Bocanegra had cleared a Scott Robinson effort but when it fell to Black, his drive proved unstoppable.

Then came the winner. It was Webster who was man-handled by Goian and while Rangers raged, Hamill put it away to delight his own fans and leave the home crowd felled. They sang of their love for the club as the final whistle sounded. But as McCoist said, it is a club which clearly does not have its troubles to seek.

Taken from the Scotsman