tm4tj

Hearts end their goal drought to pip Inverness Second half goals from Rudi Skacel and Eggert Jonsson were enough to see off a determined Caley Thistle at a windy Tynecastle, where Ross Tokely had replied for the visitors. Andrew Shinnie had rattled the Hearts rigging after 17 minutes but the score remained blank at half-time. The home side were ahead in the first minute of the second half from a tight angle before the visitors scored a close range header twelve minutes later, but the winner came after Jonsson was on hand to nod home a Templeton cross in the 76th minute to keep all three points in the capital. Jonny Hayes missed a great opportunity for Inverness to earn a draw but lifted his strike over the bar as Hearts held on for the win. Alternative Maryhill will provide us with a full match report when he gets back from the game......................He's back They came in their dozens, from as far apart as Wick and Southampton, in the hope of witnessing the real start of the ICT revival that the Kilmarnock game promised but the Celtic game postponed. They left disappointed; but then, away days are always about more than just the football, and for someone who had been tucked up in bed by ten o’ clock the night before, witnessing the scene on the 11 o’clock train from Glasgow to Edinburgh was particularly entertaining: four or five pink-eyed, very hungover ICT supporters attempting to self-medicate with Buckfast and budget vodka; one not quite managing and reacquainting himself with his morning fry-up; muted outrage in the surrounding seats. ICT supporters: bringing restraint and decorum to the central belt for seventeen years... The pre-match venue for most was, as usual, the Diggers: a proper pub that has the advantage of being only five minutes from Tynecastle, which means you can stay there until ten to three and just stroll down to the game. Yesterday promised to be even easier: instead of having to buy a ticket in advance at the ticket office, we were assured that we would be able to pay at the gate. When we arrived at the ground, however, we discovered that Hearts had taken the notion of pay at the gate a bit too literally and opened a single cash turnstile. And despite the earlier facetious comment about ‘dozens’, this was certainly ICT’s best away support of the season, and so it took some time to get them through the gate. The first ten minutes of the game, therefore, are missing from this report as I was still outside the ground during them. It didn’t sound like a great deal was happening, however, and BBC live text seems to confirm that this was the case. 26/11/11 Tynecastle Stadium, Edinburgh Hearts 2 - Skacel (46), Jonsson (76) TEAM: Kello, Webster, Obua, McGowan, Zaliukas, Hamill, Jonsson, Templeton, Stevenson (Mrowiec 46), Skacel, Sutton (Taouil 80) SUBS: MacDonald, Elliott, Novikovas, Smith, Robinson Booked: Jonsson (3), Skacel (46) Sent Off: none I.C.T. 1 - Tokely (58) TEAM: Esson, Tokely, Hogg, Gillet, Meekings (Proctor 73), Hayes, Tansey, A.Shinnie (Ross 83), Davis, Foran, Tade (Sutherland 90) SUBS: Tuffey, G.Shinnie, Cox, Chippendale Booked: Tokely (14) Sent Off: none Referee Craig Thomson Attendance 12,021 As predicted, with Greg Tansey’s red card having been overturned, Terry Butcher started with the team that had played against Celtic, and for much of the first half they played brightly and with purpose, having plenty of possession and passing the ball about well. As against Celtic, however, there were few clear-cut chances created and two of the best came in quick succession. On seventeen minutes, a powerful Andrew Shinnie shot from outside the penalty area cannoned off the junction of bar and post, then on twenty minutes, after Marius Zaliukas had given away possession, Jonny Hayes played Tade through to go one-on-one with Kello. Rather than trying to round the ‘keeper, Tade shot early and Kello blocked with his legs. Hearts at this stage looked unimaginative and rather unmotivated and even when chances fell to them they looked a little half hearted: just before the half-hour mark Ryan Stevenson had two opportunities, but fired the first weakly at Esson and the second high over the bar. Just after the half-hour mark there was a moment of some controversy when the referee awarded a drop ball after having stopped play for an injury to a Hearts player. The ICT players seemed to assume Hearts would simply play the ball back to Esson, and therefore did not contest the drop ball, but instead David Templeton continued playing and managed to get a shot away which, fortunately, Esson saved without much difficulty. Between this point and the half-time whistle, ICT probably played the better football, with Jonny Hayes and Andrew Shinnie swapping positions and Hayes, in particular using the ball very well. Real penetration, however, remained elusive and it was Hearts who continued to have the clearer chances, albeit mostly long-range shots that Esson dealt easily with. Half time came with the score at 0-0, and on the basis of the first forty-five minutes very few people would have been surprised had it remained the same until full time. Half Time 0-0 That was not to be the case, however. ICT came out of the traps at the start of the second half and went straight into attack, only to lose possession and watch helplessly as a long diagonal ball was knocked on to Skacel, in about a square mile of space on the right hand side of the field, and he fired the ball past Esson from just inside the penalty area. ICT tried to respond quickly and after turning well inside the box on a lay-off from Hayes, Shinnie managed to get away a shot that went over the bar. There was a lack of imagination in some of the attacks, however, with the defence reverting to long balls that were either dealt with easily, or that the forwards were unable to do anything with, one example being Foran struggling to get onto a crossfield pass from Meekings on around 50 minutes. At the other end, David Templeton fired in a couple of shots, the first saved by Esson, the second blocked by Tokely, then twelve minutes into the second half Hayes was blatantly blocked by Eggert Jonsson near the right hand touchline, giving ICT a free kick. Hayes sent a looping ball into the box: it was met by Tokely, stooping to get to the ball ahead of Webster, and he nodded it past Kello from about five yards. Hearts 1, Caley Thistle 1. It might have been hoped that having got back into the game when they did not look at their best, the Inverness players would have been able to push on and try to dominate the game, but instead the quality of play remained poor and possession was wasted by both sides. ICT’s best moment came in 67 minutes when Andrew Shinnie, probably the team’s most threatening player, got away from the defender manhandling him and sent in a fierce shot that Kello did well to parry. The rebound fell to Jonny Hayes but he fired the ball over the bar. On 72 minutes ICT right back Josh Meekings, who had had a fine game, was substituted, apparently suffering from a dead leg, and David Proctor came on. Just three minutes later, Hearts were ahead again. John Sutton’s shot from 20 yards was brilliantly tipped round the post by Esson, but from the short corner, David Templeton sent in a pacy cross and Eggert Jonsson, completely unmarked in the box, headed in at close range. 2-1 Hearts, with question marks over the Inverness defending yet again. After the goal, ICT continued to try to muster up some attacks, but there seemed to be something half-hearted about their play from this point onwards. Nick Ross replaced Shinnie on 80 minutes – a curious decision, as Shinnie, along with Hayes, was the team’s most creative influence throughout, while Tansey, who might just as easily have been replaced, had been virtually anonymous . Ross was unable to make much impact, and nor was the final sub, Shane Sutherland, although this was unsurprising as he did not replace Tade until the game was entering injury time: another rather odd decision. The game petered out with little in the way of goalmouth action, and the ICT supporters filtered out, to return to the four corners of the UK disappointed but unfortunately not entirely surprised by the result. Full Time 2-1 The news coming though from East End Park of Aberdeen’s two late goals meant that ICT were now on their own at the bottom of the league; but on the plus side, it means Dunfermline as well as Aberdeen and Hibs are still within touching distance. Next week against St Mirren becomes a big game now, however: despite their promising start to the season, this is a team we have proven we can beat, and they suffered a hammering at the hands of Celtic yesterday that will hopefully have sapped their confidence a little. If we lose that one, though, we will have to start wondering who we are going to pick up points against. Hopefully we can take another decent support there, get behind the team, and this time start to see our season turn round. No match highlights found, meh!

Battle of the reds at Tynecastle It's off to the capital this weekend as in the red Hearts take on red card Inverness. Vladimir Romanov has slapped a £50m price tag on the maroons allegedly, and when asked again he retorted "that's five zero"; let's hope that's not the scoreline this Saturday. Inverness were involved in headlines themselves after last weekends game with Celtic when bemused midfielderGreg Tansey was sent packing after challenging for a high ball with Celtic's Greek striker Georgios Samaras. This was the third controversial sending off for the Caley Jags this season, and each one has cost the club dearly in terms of points lost. Greg's alleged crime was for elbowing the Greek, in the opinion of referee Steven O'Reilly, who was the only person in front of a few million watchers who saw the incident that way. It was no more than a careless challenge as Tansey's finger tips caressed the hirsute Samaras' cheek and long flowing locks, ooerr Greg, steady on. Inverness fan Donnie Matheson of D&E Coaches felt so aggrieved by this decision he contacted the club and offered to pay the costs of an appeal to help offset any outlay incurred, a fantastic gesture from this committed fan, even from his sunbed in Lanzarote. The appeal was discussed on Thursday by the beaks at Hampden, and knock me down with a feather, but it was successful as referee O'Reilly agreed with the rest of the world that he had made an error, having seen footage that vindicated Tansey. This means that Greg will be free to play if selected at Tynecastle and he never even received a yellow for the challenge...... nuff said. However, let's just be happy that this dream that Yngwie had never materialised:- zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ The SFA is delighted to confirm that the red card issued to the player will not be overturned, and our only regret is that we can’t somehow pin this one on Ross Tokely. And believe me, we tried. The referee’s match report noted that the Highland thug launched a rapid and unprovoked assault on poor Georgios Samaras comprising an elbow in the face, followed by a double uppercut, a karate kid style crane kick and then to add insult to injury, a humiliating wedgie. Brave Georgios was miraculously able to continue with the game after only a few minutes rolling around clutching his battered face. The speed of the attack on Samaras was too fast to be properly recorded by any recording equipment present at the crappy little ground, but still images captured clearly show Tansey “looking at him in a funny way” followed a few seconds later by the victim having more than one hair out of place. The referee has provided some crayon sketches to fill the gaps, which conclusively prove his version of events. On the plus side, one of our forum users was almost added to the beaks committee.........We also considered an application to join the panel from a Mr DalneighCaley, but internet research revealed his opinions on the incident were far too sympathetic and reasoned to be suitable for us. But we did like his point that Butcher himself used the term “assault” and gave him a much needed green dot. Blimey, that poor fella’s picked up more reds than ICT. (any similarity to persons and events elsewhere are purely coincidental and nobody was injured in the making of this dream).........ZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz Wake up Yngwie! It's all happening down Tynecastle way just now. Players not being paid on time, hints at a player cull being on the horizon and news that Romanov will sell the club or take on a new investment partner, have unsettled the Hearts fans. All this in the face of a £33m tax bill does not make for encouraging reading for the rest of Scottish Football. When clubs like Hearts are struggling to make ends meet, it's comforting to know that some are willing to live within their means to achieve relative success. Success is what you make of it, expectations are a dangerous thing and failure to meet expectations can ruin a club. Some light relief was unveiled for the 7th of January as Inverness received the Parfect draw in the Scottish Cup 4th round. The only all SPL tie as they were paired with fellow SPL strugglers Dunfermline Athletic. Oh well, at least it is a home tie, but after witnessing the performance against the Pars in the last SPL game in Inverness, not a forgone conclusion that we will overcome them in the Cup. Contrast this with Junior Football side Auchinleck Talbot being Hearts opponents at Tynecastle: Aye, that's the romance of the Scottish Cup. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Alternative Maryhill tries his hand at his first Tynecastle preview and has plenty of ammo to whet your appetite..... Heart of Midlothian v Inverness Caledonian Thistle, 26th November 2011 Heart of Midlothian. A name which, when first heard, must be one of the most romantic-sounding anywhere in football. Yet its origins are anything but. The name was first coined ironically to describe Edinburgh’s tolbooth prison, which stood for nearly four centuries beside St Giles’ on the Royal Mile and was notorious as a place of execution and torture, with spikes adorning the outside walls to display the heads and body parts of its most recent victims. In his 1818 state-of-the nation novel The Heart of Midlothian, Sir Walter Scott tried to rehabilitate the name by using it to describe his heroine Jeannie Deans, the humble cow-feeder’s daughter who is supposed to symbolise the innate virtue of the Scottish people, but who is in reality one of the most annoyingly pious characters ever to have made it onto a page. There is no clear consensus over whether the football club of the same name founded in 1874 took its name from the prison or the novel, and Hearts today seem to embody aspects of each: the torture of sitting through 300-odd minutes since the team last scored; the ‘Hearts Legends’ banners of the likes of Steven Pressley and Paul Hartley leering from the floodlight stanchions like disembodied execution victims; and the smug self-regard of (some of) its supporters, who flood onto popular Scottish football websites and spray meaningless gifs all over them. Recently, of course, the name has taken on a whole new set of associations, most of them related in some way to Hearts’ owner, the submarine-piloting, Loch-Ness-swimming, with-the-stars-dancing Vladimir Romanov. Hearts have boasted some interesting characters at boardroom level in the past, notably Wallace Mercer, who madly tried to merge the club with Hibs, and rotund policeman-punching MP George Foulkes, but in his seven years in charge, Romanov has taken ‘interesting’ to a whole new level. Having arrived in Edinburgh claiming that he would make Hearts a team capable for challenging for the SPL title and European trophies, Romanov has worked his way through several hundred Eastern-European loan players and at least nine managers, the most successful of whom was sacked with the club sitting on top of the league and unbeaten after ten games, with rumours flying of Romanov trying to select the team himself; he has accused Hearts players of being targeted by ‘criminals’, ‘maniacs’ and ‘the mafia’, and the SFA and referees of waging a seven-year campaign against Hearts (no-one connected with ICT could ever be so paranoid...); and while taking the club into a debt of £30 million, with an outlay of a quarter of a million per week for wages whose payment is not always certain, he has presided over the winning of one trophy, via a penalty shoot-out against Gretna. Hardly Chelsea. In the past month, Romanov has announced that he wants out of Scottish football and that Hearts are up for sale at the knock-down price of £50 million. Surprisingly, potential buyers have not been knocking down his maroon doors... So, with Hearts’ finances allegedly in disarray and future allegedly in doubt, should Caley Thistle be confident of beating them on Saturday? On the basis of history, probably not. In twenty league games, ICT have won only three times. Two of these were among the most entertaining and dramatic of the fixtures – a 2-1 win in Inverness in September 2007 with Craig Brewster scoring the winner in the final minute to end a season-opening sequence of six straight defeats, and a 3-2 win at Tynecastle three days before Christmas in the same year, when Graeme Bayne scored the winner in injury time after Hearts had equalised with a ninetieth-minute penalty – but the majority of games between the sides have been stupefyingly dull. Six of Hearts’ ten wins have finished 1-0, and there have been three 0-0 draws and four 1-1 draws, including the last three games between the sides. The odds on a fourth successive 1-1 are probably not particularly long. Team News With Thursday’s news that Greg Tansey’s red card against Celtic has been rescinded, Caley Thistle’s squad is probably as strong as it has been all season. Owain Tudur-Jones is still injured, and although Aaron Doran is thought to be back in training, this game will come too soon for him. Although the team created few clear-cut chances against Celtic, they played a lot of good football, and it is likely that Terry Butcher will pick the same team that started against Celtic: Esson in goals, Meekings, Hogg, Tokely and Gillet in defence, Davis and Tansey lying deeper in midfield and Tade at the head of what is approximately an attacking diamond also featuring Hayes, Andrew Shinnie and Foran. The BBC has no up-to-date team news for Hearts, and trying to pick through the acres of gifs and Hibs-Hearts name-calling on P&B has simply become too tedious, so I have no clear idea of what Hearts’ player availability is like for Saturday. What is apparent, however, is that Hearts’ manager Paulo Sergio has aimed for more stability of team selection than Hearts have been known for in recent years. In their last four games, despite the team having lost three and drawn one without scoring a single goal, the team selection has been remarkably consistent: against Kilmarnock and Rangers the teams were identical; against St Mirren Ryan McGowan came in for the injured Danny Grainger and Mehdi Taouil for the suspended Ian Black; and against Dundee United Taouil was replaced by John Sutton. Having seen Sutton, David Templeton and Ryan Stevenson tear Caley Thistle defences apart at different times over the last few years, it seems amazing to me that Hearts have not scored in the league in 376 minutes; if they decide to start finding the net on Saturday, let’s hope that Shinnie, Tade and Hayes are in a Rugby Park kind of mindset... Prediction As always with ICT, who can say? This games pitches the second best defence in the league (Hearts, ten goals conceded) against the second worst (ICT, thirty goals conceded), and the team with the worst goal tally in the league (Hearts, thirteen goals scored) against the team with the sixth best (ICT, nineteen goals scored). Hearts’ form is dreadful, ICT’s is all over the place... I’m taking the easy option: Heart of Midlothian 1, Inverness Caledonian Thistle 1 Latest Team News Inverness will be without the long term casualties for another few weeks, although Owain Tudur-Jones is ahead of schedule and is training lightly. Aaron Doran is also doing fitness training and both could feature early in the new year. Nick Ross and Lee Cox can be added to the squad and it is now down to the managers discretion who to involve and who to leave out. Horses for courses spring to mind. Greg Tansey will be included in the squad after his successful appeal . So, it could be along the same starting line up for Butcher's boys. Hearts manager Paulo Sergio has plenty of issues going on in and around Tynecastle to contend with, including his own 5 match dugout ban which started last week at Tannadice. Nineteen senior players are apparently out of contract this summer and that will make for uncertain times down Gorgie way, but nobody can doubt the talent that the club has on the field of play, with super talented kids like Ryan Stevenson and David Templeton at their disposal. Nemesis, Kevin Kyle is out long term, and Darren Barr, Gary Glen, Suso Santana and Danny Grainger are all sidelined. Former ICT midfielder Ian Black completes the last of his three match suspension today. Other SPL News Dunfermline failed to take advantage of their game in hand at the bottom of the table as they lost 2-1 to Celtic in midweek who have moved to only 7 points behind table toppers Rangers. The Pars stay 1 point ahead of Inverness and Aberdeen at the foot of the league but their goal difference is now 4 worse than Inverness' tally. Hibernian have confirmed that Pat Fenlon will take over the reins from Colin Calderwood and he has signed a two and a half year contract. Forty two year old Fenlon arrives from Irish outfit Bohemians, who only managed fifth last year. Fenlon played all of his senior career in Ireland. Rangers have also confirmed a signing, that of former Aberdeen winger Sone Aluko who has signed on at Ibrox until the end of the season after agreeing compensation with the Dons.