Hearts strike out after the Jags give them gyp

PAUL KIDDIE
AT FIRHILL

IT is clear to see why Hearts boss John Robertson was so desperate to have Stevie Crawford in his attack.

The Jambos enjoyed comprehensive territorial advantage over Partick Thistle in Saturday’s Tennent’s Scottish Cup third-round tie but failed miserably to convert it into anything like genuine goal-scoring opportunities.

At no point did Robertson’s outfit ever look like adding their name to the mighty who have fallen at the first hurdle in the competition. Equally, though, such was their lack of potency in front of the Jags’ goal, Hearts appeared as if they could still be playing just now without beating Kenny Arthur.

The Tynecastle chief had targeted Scotland striker Crawford as his top signing target this month only to surprisingly lose out to SPL strugglers Dundee United, the former Hibs and Dunfermline front man seeing his future in Tayside rather than Gorgie. Robertson knows where his problems lie and whether Crawford would have been the answer is now irrelevant. It remains to be seen what impact the imminent arrival of Lee Miller on loan from Bristol City will have - the former Scotland Under-21 international forward was expected to complete the formalities of his switch today.

But what is not in question is that this punchless Hearts attack requires a swift injection of creativity and quality.

Some may point to the departure of Mark de Vries as one of reasons for the Jambos’ inability to find the road to goal at Firhill but this is a problem which has been afflicting the Edinburgh side long before the out-of-form Dutchman’s exit to Leicester last week.

Hearts have been relying far too heavily on Paul Hartley’s impressive goal-scoring capabilities from the middle of the park this season, his 11 goals to date telling its own story. With suspension ruling him out of Saturday’s Maryhill meeting, it didn’t take a rocket scientist to conclude that the visitors could struggle to come up with the necessary firepower to ruin Dick Campbell and Jimmy Bone’s first match at the Thistle helm.

And so it proved, with Hearts drawing a blank against a spirited home side, the teams having to go through it all again in a replay at Tynecastle on Wednesday, January 19.

Firhill for thrills? I don’t think so. A draw was the right result on an afternoon when the conditions made playing any kind of decent football well nigh impossible - the game only went ahead after a morning pitch inspection - and quality entertainment was in scant supply. Despite the mitigating circumstances, more was expected from Hearts, who were very poor.

It wasn’t the performance or result which Robertson was looking for - and another fixture for his already depleted squad to contend with in a hectic January was the last thing he wanted.

However, at least Hearts are still in the Tennent’s Scottish Cup with a home game against first division Partick for a place in the fourth round and that has to be a large crumb of comfort after a traumatic week for those of a maroon persuasion.

In the past few days De Vries was joined on the road to Leicester by Alan Maybury, Crawford opted for Tannadice instead of Tynecastle as Robbo revealed he has to lose £1.2 million off the wage bill, the crucial vote on the sale of the Gorgie ground to Cala Homes was delayed by over a fortnight and 20 unknown Eastern European footballers arrived at the Riccarton football academy for a training camp paid for by new owner-in-waiting Vladimir Romanov.

Circumstances were therefore hardly ideal for Robertson as he prepared for the weekend and with Thistle considerably lifted by the arrival of a new management team, the ingredients were all there for a notable cup upset. That it did not happen will have meant the Hearts players headed home on Saturday content in the knowledge they’ll at least have another bite at the cherry.

"Partick deserved a draw and a replay but we didn’t have enough quality in the last third of the park," said Robertson. "We totally dominated the second half but never looked like cutting them open and our decision-making was poor.

"Our forwards didn’t get into areas where they were going to hurt Partick and the standard of our finishing and in the last third in general has to improve.

"Our performance was summed-up by the fact that Robbie Neilson had our three best chances - and he’s our right back.

"We are still in the cup and when you look at some of the other results we have to be thankful we have a second chance and the fact we now bring Partick back to Tynecastle."

Kevin McKenna was paired up front with Graham Weir and the versatile Canadian had a rare sight of goal after 19 minutes when he smacked a half-volley narrowly wide of target.

The home side, though, came within inches of breaking the deadlock nine minutes before the interval when Juan Ramon saw his shot from just inside the box come crashing off the outside of Craig Gordon’s right-hand post.

The only other effort of note from the visitors in a lacklustre opening period came in the 40th minute after McKenna’s flick-on from Jamie McAllister’s cross from the left fell into the path of Neilson. The angle was reminiscent of his glory strike against Basel in the UEFA Cup but Arthur saved comfortably at his near post on this occasion.

Ramon Pereira, a 61st-minute replacement for Weir, brought some much-needed inventiveness to the Hearts front line but openings still remained at a premium.

Neilson had another decent shooting opportunity 16 minutes from time when Neil MacFarlane’s flick-on from Joe Hamill’s corner found him in good position. The full-back, though, supplied a defender’s finish, the ball flying into the Hearts supporters behind Arthur’s goal.

Five minutes later and Neilson’s deep cross to the back post picked out McKenna but the Canadian could only succeed in directing his header into the side netting.

Arthur didn’t then have a save to make until the last minute when he comfortably tipped over a 40-yard free-kick from Phil Stamp.

"We missed Paul Hartley and the fact he is our top scorer with 11 goals from midfield shows where our problems are," said Robertson.

"But these problems have been there all season. They were there when Craig (Levein) started the season and the team is simply not scoring enough goals. We just don’t have enough players who look like they are going to score for us.

"We are going to try to get players in as best we can but in the current financial climate it is going to be difficult."

Taken from the Scotsman