Hearts march to the top in small steps

WILLIAM HUNTER

9 Sep 1991

BEATING Motherwell 2-0 Hearts are the tops.

While that makes an excited little first paragraph, it has to be read less for any excitement in it than for its littleness.

Hearts had a small sort of a victory.

That said, it would be churlish to try to take anything away from their early season success.

They have worked hard to get where they are.

The glow over Gorgie Road afterwards was deserved and a delight to share.

But it was only an industrious performance for all that.

Going to the head of the league was a small step.

To help Hearts make it Motherwell lay down to provide a doormat.

What was most deeply exciting was the size of the crowd.

At the end of an expensive week a few more than 9000 turned out.

Tynecastle loyalists have a whiff of great things to come that eluded an outsider.

At best their team looked diligent and workmanlike.

If the supporters will need patience (both goals came in the second half), they seemed to have plenty of that worthy quality along with their bundle of excellent enthusiasm.

So who know? Certainly, the grandeur of the current position of Hearts gloriously contrasts with how last year they had to grovel.

The team are playing to a sound manual of instruction (some of their set pieces are superbly simple), although not all of the players have as yet reached the same page of the manual.

The goals by Scott Crabbe and Ian Baird were taken well.

There were some shining individual performances.

Gary Mackay's contributions from wide on the right were most telling.

After hitting wood a couple of times Crabbe completely turned the direction of play for his opener off a post.

Even the normally cement countenance of Joe Jordan, the Hearts manager, relaxed into a smile at the thought of Crabbe's goal.

"The game needed something just a wee bit different," he said.

Baird's goal rewarded much good toil.

His game gave Hearts not only strength through the middle but width as well.

With Craig Levein at the back, nobody is going to mess with Hearts, although it will take better opposition than Saturday's to tell.

Motherwell were absent threequarters of the time.

On their behalf afterwards it was suggested there had not been a lot in it and that if a shot by Steve Kirk that hit a post had gone elsewhere than into the confident arms of Henry Smith, all would have been different.

Such nonsense ignored the serene competence of Smith.

He was never troubled.

The rudiments of his jobs he has licked.

Some of his throwing from goal was the most thrilling part of the afternoon.

Maybe Motherwell have Europe too much on their minds.

Strangely even encouragingly, when occasionally they chose to attack they looked more at ease with themselves than in their glum defending.

Given the chance, Phil O'Donnell looked as if he could have dented the alert complacency of Hearts.

As it was, the game was like watching an old jungle film.

Tarzan (meaning Hearts) was made to appear as if he were conquering a crocodile, whereas all they really had to contend with was a roll of linoleum (meaning Motherwell.)

Taken from the Herald