Hearts own goal gives Liverpool the advantage

Ewan Murray at Tynecastle
The Guardian, Friday 24 August 2012

Brendan Rodgers is perfectly open about the fact the Europa League is not anywhere near the summit of his priorities during his first season in charge at Anfield. A weekend Premier League meeting with Manchester City provided the backdrop to this visit to Edinburgh.

Yet Liverpool's manager will be grateful for an instant response from his players – in terms of result at least – to Saturday's humbling at the hands of West Bromwich Albion. Avoiding embarrassment, and more negative discussion, from a tussle with Hearts was Rodgers' main aim. Mission accomplished on that front, even if Hearts otherwise emerged with almost all of the credit.

Rodgers selected only four of the players who started that 3-0 reverse at the Hawthorns for the first leg of this play-off tie. Hearts' youngsters are worthy of the praise they will receive for their display against more illustrious opposition but the blunt reality is that they still face a massive task in overturning this tie next week on Merseyside.

A late own goal from Andy Webster sealed Liverpool's win against the Scottish Cup holders. Hearts could, and did, reasonably argue they were good value for at least a draw. In the first period, particularly, the hosts strongly belied any sense this was a football mismatch. By full time the Hearts players were deserving of the ovation they received from their supporters.

"It's only 1-0, so you never know. We will go to Anfield with nothing to lose," said John McGlynn, the Hearts manager. "I don't think anyone could complain if this had been a draw or even if we had got a 1-0 win. For the calibre of team we played against, the players can be very proud of their performance."

And yet Hearts had plenty of cause for trepidation as they prepared for a first meeting with Liverpool since an Anfield friendly in 1929. A year ago, Tottenham arrived at Tynecastle for a Europa League play-off first leg and swaggered back across the border with a 5-0 win. That evening provided the latest, harrowing reminder of how comparisons between prominent clubs in England and Scotland have been rendered illegitimate by a financial gulf.

Albeit Liverpool fielded an infinitely weaker team here than Spurs did then, Hearts have been blunted by the loss of key players at the end of last season because of budgetary constraints.

Hearts will at least have felt the monetary benefit of this occasion. From the kick-off, the hosts' mission was to prove they would not be as overawed as when Tottenham came to visit. Andy Carroll took a seat in the Tynecastle directors' box after being ruled out of this fixture by a hamstring complaint. Rodgers had brought the former Newcastle United striker north with the intention of starting him. It may be of slight interest to Newcastle that Carroll is not cup-tied for this competition.

In Carroll's absence, Fabio Borini led the visiting attack. Yet the first glimpse of an opening fell to Hearts, John Sutton only narrowly failing to capitalise on a lax Jamie Carragher back pass. Charlie Adam responded immediately, with a driving run and shot that had the home goalkeeper, Jamie MacDonald, scrambling. Pepe Reina needed a more spectacular save at the opposite end, thereby denying Arvydas Novikovas what would have been a wonderful opening goal.

Liverpool's most menacing early threats arrived from Raheem Sterling, their teenage debutant attacker. His 29th-minute angled shot saw MacDonald punch to safety. An even better opportunity fell to Borini, who failed to properly connect with a fine Jordan Henderson cross. Hearts were afforded an astonishing let-off just seconds before the interval. After Mehdi Taouil cheaply gifted possession to Liverpool, Sterling played in Borini with only MacDonald to beat. The Italian did that but watched his shot rebound from a post.

The second half lacked the frantic pace of the first. Liverpool made the first move at raising the tempo by withdrawing Jack Robinson and sending on Stewart Downing as a replacement. Joe Allen was the next to appear, Jay Spearing sacrificed by Rodgers on that occasion. A cursory glance towards the players available to McGlynn would highlight the relative poverty of his options.

Nonetheless, even with half an hour to play it was easy to infer both sides would settle for scoreless parity. MacDonald and Reina had virtually been reduced to onlookers amid a lot of untidy midfield scuffling.

The night's crucial goal arrived in similarly scrappy circumstances. Martin Kelly found sufficient space on the right flank to throw a low cross into dangerous territory. The ball struck Webster rather more than flying into the Hearts net on account of any attempt at a clearance. Webster's colleagues had made the key error by not clearing the danger earlier.

The Hearts substitute Andrew Driver spurned his team's best hope of salvation. From a Ryan McGowan cross, the winger was unable to turn the ball beyond Reina. Liverpool's goalkeeper also saved well from Callum Paterson in the dying seconds; victory belonged to the visitors, to the relief as much as delight of Rodgers.

Taken from the Guardian/Observer