Aberdeen 2 Hearts 0: Brown impressed, but youth being wasted on the young

Chris Tait
Monday 1 April 2013

YOU had to listen for what Hearts' players didn't say.

There seemed little choice, since the Tynecastle squad made a break for the safety of the team bus following defeat by Aberdeen, preferring the promise of a quiet ride home to questions about where they go from here. Given the answer lies somewhere in the bottom six of the Clydesdale Bank Premier League, one sympathises.

Such a sentiment has little value at the Edinburgh club, though, given that an uncomfortable campaign conducted between the sacking of a manager, a cup final defeat and an enduring stretch in the bottom half of the league table has invited a sense of pity to a side that could once boast haughtily to being a "third force".

This defeat maintained Hearts' run of just one league win since January 30, with their pride likely to be fractured further after the split. A match against Ross County this weekend is the last time they will face a side in the top six until next term.

Hearts have been required to tailor their ambition this term due to tightening finances but are yet to find a good fit. When Craig Brown, Aberdeen's manager, stopped Gary Locke to commend him on his work with the club's youths, the Hearts manager responded curtly. Brown had been sincere – apologising for not opening with the sentiment when he reviewed the game – but such comments have come to seem like faint praise to Hearts, and they aren't falling for it any more.

Locke is aware of the promise shown by the likes of Callum Tapping and Jamie Walker, but he has also had cause to lament the callowness of his side, not least when Niall McGinn dismissed Dylan McGowan's attempts to block his path early in the second half; the 21-year-old defender left in knots before McGinn clipped in his second goal of the afternoon. His first had come after Hearts were caught out by Jonny Hayes' run from deep.

Brown's experience is to be put to use elsewhere when he retires this Saturday and he hinted at the issues that will occupy his mind as a non-executive director at the club – "We had a goal ruled out for offside by the linesman in front of the away support . . . I'm going to move them" – but he was also given to linger on the quality of squad to be inherited by his replacement, Derek McInnes.

Brown assumed a team in need of extensive surgery in 2010 and his relative success means that McInnes may opt only for a little nip and tuck. The prospect of any tweaking to personnel will tease the Pittodrie squad and will bring a fresh incentive which will endure even if their slim hopes of stealing into the top six are over by Wednesday, with St Johnstone in action tonight and Kilmarnock on duty two days later.

"I am under contract, but you never know; the new manager might not rate you," said Jamie Langfield, the Aberdeen goalkeeper. "You need to go out and impress him."

Taken from the Herald