Partick defy odds again McLean is wondering if his men have heart

IAN PAUL

17 Apr 1995

Hearts 0, Partick Thistle 1

ALMOST a month ago Hearts beat Rangers 2-1 in the premier division two weeks after having knocked them out of the cup.

It has been downhill all the way since.

One draw and five successive losing games, including the defeat in the Scottish Cup semi-final by Airdrie, have transformed their season, which was building up to a glorious crescendo, into a flat anti-climax.

Worse, they are in serious danger of being sucked into the chute that would hurl them into an alarming financial scenario if they were to be relegated.

A month is a dreadfully long time in the old ball game.

Injuries and the disappointment of missing out on the great cup finale next month have devastated the Tynecastle side, to the point where they seem psychologically vulnerable.

They were going along in good style against Thistle, even if they missed a series of chances -- many of them saved by their former keeper, Nicky Walker -- but when they went a goal behind, it was as if they knew that the world was conspiring against them.

God is anti-Hearts, so what's the point?

It is a situation which leaves manager Tommy McLean with a delicate problem if he is to motivate his players over their last four games.

With the soul of his team out through injury -- two key defenders, two top midfielders, and two main strikers -- McLean knows he has to strike a balance between encouragement and threat.

"It is going to be a hard fight now," he said, "because even if we were able to do something in the transfer market, it is past the deadline.

We will have to get by with what we have."

The programme coming up allows no room for excessive optimism, with Celtic, Aberdeen, Hibs, and Motherwell making up the final four opponents.

In contrast, Partick Thistle will not even look at their remaining opponents.

They all come alike to the Maryhill gang and their irrepressible manager, John Lambie, who has seen his team lose only once in the past 11 games, a run that has lifted them from stonewall certainties to be relegated to third, maybe even fourth favourites.

Lazarus might have got up quicker but he was no more spectacular.

They are edging ever closer to the safety zone in a league which has a bizarre look about it.

"We're only four points behind Celtic," said Lambie, "which shows you how crazy this league is."

He has been referred to as a bit crazy himself on occasion, but he can handle that, as long as his team respond to his singular style of management.

"Our goalie was magnificent.

That is the best he has played against Hearts," he added, a bit cryptically.

"I might have allowed myself a wee thought about getting to safety if Aberdeen had lost, but there is still a long way to go.

We have got to keep battling away as we have been."

If any team in the division has whatever the undefinable talents are to escape relegation, it is Thistle.

They looked a poor second-best for most of the first half, when the impression was that a goal for Hearts would be a starter for some, but the longer they held out, the more chance there was of them calling up that indomitable impudence which has catapulted them up the table.

It surfaced after the interval when they realised that Hearts had just about run out of ideas.

Alan Dinnie, who had been brought on to combat the danger from John Millar, knocked in the goal that was to matter within eight minutes, and it was then a case of seeing if Hearts could conjure up a way out of the well.

They could not, despite some valiant efforts, and in fact might well have been caught out for some slack defending in the process.

In the first half they had looked assured enough to take care of the problem team of the league (they're everybody's problem), but when Walker made a remarkable save, touching a header by Alan Johnston on to the inside of the post, and then had the good fortune to catch the rebound, they might have guessed it was not to be their day.

McLean agreed: "They get to the point where they feel it is not their day, but that attitude is no good to us at this stage of the season.

We lost our shape and in the end were a shambles."

That would have been emphasised if Roddy Grant's shot near the end had made the score 2-0.

Instead, it hit the same inside portion of the same post where Johnston's header had ended up, and came out in a similar fashion.

Walker offered a neat explanation of Lambie's half-time team talk.

"He told us we hadn't been playing too much football and that we had better start.

At least, it was something like that."

Maybe therein lies the secret.

They can laugh at Firhill, even when the going gets tough.

Taken from the Herald