A merci mission at heart of revival

SIMON PIA at Tynecastle

HEARTS 2 Weir, 73; Pressley, 81
DUNDEE 2 Novo, 16; Rae, 46

IT WAS Gallic élan rather than traditional Scottish virtues that turned around a turgid Hearts side headed for defeat against the cosmopolitans from Dundee, in what was being billed as the best of the rest after the Old Firm derby earlier in the day. But until Jean Louis Valois came on, Hearts seemed to have no idea how they were going to haul themselves back into the game as they floundered two goals behind Jim Duffy's sprightly side.

Dundee had a better shape and balance to their play and were more opportunistic than Hearts. However, Harry Lime will have to have a word with Duffy about ruthlessness being an essential characteristic if you want to become the Third Man of Scottish football.

Craig Levein, though, appreciated he had to go for bust, bringing on Valois for the ineffective Paul Hartley and Graham Weir for the impotent Dennis Wyness, who was wanton in front of goal as they were two goals down with less than half an hour to play.

Valois added some essential width and created both Hearts goals, the first when he cut inside toward the Dundee box in the 74th minute. The ball to Mark De Vries was touched into Weir’s path and the young striker chipped it over the sprawling Julian Speroni.

Six minutes later Stephen Pressley rose above everyone else to head in Valois’s looping corner and from then on Hearts chased for victory. It escaped them and indeed it would have been rough justice on Dundee to leave without anything.

They had the edge on Hearts for over an hour with a compact display, their midfield holding a line in front of a resolute back four while Hearts looked ragged in comparison.

Levein had tinkered with his defence at kick-off, moving Patrick Kisnorbo over to right- back while Alan Maybury was switched to the left. However, this was to backfire in as much as Kisnorbo was caught out of position when Dundee went ahead after 15 minutes. But Hearts already - or rather Wyness - had scorned the opportunity to take the lead after 11 minutes and it was an error the striker was to repeat before the half was out.

However, the Australian full- back Kisnorbo could not be faulted going forward and he hit the byeline, passing Tom Cowan before playing the ball back across the face of the goal behind the Dundee backline for one of his strikers to follow through on. Wyness, though, leaned back too far from his shot and as soon as he connected it was obvious it was rising all the time.

A cloudburst then came at a vital moment as autumnal showers laid a sheen of grease on the surface and it was Dundee who exploited the conditions. When a ball was played up the left wing, Kisnorbo was posted missing and Andy Webster was pulled out from the centre to cover, but the leggy centre-back skidded then slid, allowing the more compact Nacho Novo to skip in, whip the ball over the spread-eagled centre-back and crack a shot at Tepi Moilanen. The goalkeeper looked as though he had it covered but the ball skidded through his gloves, giving the home support a sickly reminder of his gaffe in the Edinburgh derby this season.

But before both teams readjusted to the conditions Hearts almost equalised, racing up the pitch and a ball across the face of the defence had them floundering but no-one was pushing up on the left for Hearts to capitalise on the chance.

Dundee sat in while Hearts tried to turn the screw but as the half went on Duffy’s side became more confident and composed.

Stamp went down after playing a one-two with de Vries and Lee Wilkie anxiously glanced at referee John Underhill, but the referee probably called it right.

Meanwhile, Hearts had little width and, with their game too narrow, they were unable to get round the back of the Dundee defence.

The only real danger came when Hartley swung in a free kick that found Wyness unmarked at the back post but again the forward leaned back, this time on a header, which he sent flashing over the bar. Stamp was doing his best to ignite a flaccid Hearts attack but his fieriness earned him yellow card for the second clash with his opposite number, Cowan. Stamp by name, stamp by nature and Cowan’s ankles knew all about it as did referee Underhill.

Meanwhile, Hartley’s ineffectiveness on the left was rectified by Levein seven minutes into the second half when he was substituted by Valois.

First, though, Dundee were to extend their lead in 64 minute when Gordon Rae broke through after Pressley had been distracted by Fabian Caballero going for a ball. The midfielder coolly ran on through the mix-up to sidefoot it past the goalkeeper.

Duffy will no doubt point out to his players they should then have killed the game and no doubt the soon-to-be-added experience of new Dens duo Craig Burley and Fabrizio Ravanelli will help add this dimension to Dundee.

They could also learn from the grit which Levein has laid as a foundation at Tynecastle as petulance crept into Dundee’s play under Hearts’ onslaught.

Meanwhile, Levein as much as anyone will appreciate grit alone is not good enough and that’s why Valois’s flair is so essential for Hearts this season.

Taken from the Scotsman