Action off the ball is too much

JIM REYNOLDS

18 Sep 1989

Motherwell 1, Hearts 3

AS a boy I was told that in the thirties, matches between Motherwell and Hearts were for the purist, football exhibited at its best.

Sadly, youngsters of tomorrow will not be able to be told the same about the corresponding fixtures of the eighties.

Saturday was just another unhappy example of the bad blood that has surfaced between these sides in recent seasons.

Two sent off and four booked was a fair indication of the match, with the ball often of secondary importance to the players.

Managers Tommy McLean and Alex MacDonald no doubt would like to have said more about the happenings, but prohibitive SFA fines were uppermost in their minds.

Each camp claimed that there was a certain amount of play-acting involved when first home striker Nick Cusack, and then Hearts defender Walter Kidd were sent off after incidents with Dave McPherson and Steve Kirk.

Maybe, but don't blame the referee.

The poor man would have needed eyes in the back of his head to spot every nasty niggle that went on during the 90 minutes.

Last season, McPherson was sent packing in the corresponding fixture and seven others were booked.

And earlier in a match at Tynecastle between the two, nine players were booked.

The season before that, it was the turn of Motherwell captain Tommy Boyd to be sent off.

Putting the darker side of the game aside, it was smiles all the way for Hearts, who this morning sit at the top of the premier-division table, thanks mainly to the emergence of an exciting young striker.

Scott Crabbe, a 21-year-old home grown product, teamed up with John Robertson to prove that big is not always best.

These tiny tots gave the Motherwell defence a roasting, with Crabbe grabbing a double to push his goals total to seven in eight matches.

Hearts put themselves in the driving seat as early as the fifth minute when Crabbe was bundled to the ground by Craig Paterson 20 yards out.

The youngster took the free kick himself and sent a swerving drive in off the left-hand post.

What followed was the nastiness and a stop-start match with the referee constantly having to stop the proceedings.

And after 35 minutes, when Cusack and McPherson jumped for a ball near the centre spot, the Motherwell striker was sent off as the big Hearts defender lay flat out.

I don't know whether or not McPherson made a meal of it, but an elbow definitely was used.

Depleted Motherwell did rather well, however, and in 53 minutes they were back in the game when Chris McCart came forward to head a marvellous equaliser from a Davie Cooper free kick.

Hearts then stepped up a gear, and a minute later they were back in front when Crabbe prodded in their second goal following a John Colquhoun corner.

Then came the second sending off after 71 minutes.

Kidd, who had been booked earlier, got involved with Kirk and was shown the red card, although he strongly indicated that the Motherwell man had taken a dive.

Hearts anger turned to delight a minute later, however, when Robertson beat an offside trap and belted the ball into the Motherwell net for the third and decisive goal.

It was a disappointing afternoon for the football lover.

Some of the action was well worth the journey, but that was by far outweighed by the lack of discipline shown by both sides.

MOTHERWELL -- Maxwell, Burley, Boyd, O'Neill, McCart, Paterson, Russell, Arnott, Cusack, Kirk, Cooper.

Substitutes: Gahagan, Dolan.

HEARTS -- Smith, Kidd, McKinlay, Levein, Kirkwood, McPherson, Colquhoun, Mackay, Robertson, Crabbe, McCreery.

Substitutes: Musemic, McLaren.

Referee -- J Herald (Newton Mearns).