No hiding place as De Boer pinpoints flaws

GLENN GIBBONS AT TYNECASTLE

Hearts 1 Wyness (75)
Rangers 1 Moore (55, pen)

RONALD de Boer has never lacked brilliance or candour, but it is a regrettable fact of the immutable law of the aging process that his command of the blunt opinion is more reliable these days than his ability to impose himself on a football match.

Since the celebrated Dutch midfielder joined Rangers three-and-a-half years ago, it has been evident, with the exception of a purple patch last season, that we have been seeing only the remnants of a great talent.

Now, precisely two months short of his 34th birthday and diminished by the wear and tear of top-level football since his teenage years, the incomparable Ronald is at his most captivating when he is passing the damning comment, especially on his own team-mates.

Nobody does contempt like the De Boers. Ronald and Frank, re-united with Rangers, continue to give the withering look to feckless colleagues and clumsy opponents, clearly wondering how on earth they managed to be sharing the same field. The twins are certainly convinced, in those moments of marvellous haughtiness, that the others are playing a different, inferior form of the game.

This unapologetic dismissiveness also informs their talk, as Ronald demonstrated once again in the wake of the 1-1 draw at Tynecastle in which Rangers lost a lead and, more specifically, Peter Lovenkrands perpetrated arguably the miss of the season when given a golden opportunity to take the visitors into an irretrievable two-goal lead.

"We had our chances," said Ronald, "but it was just the story of this season. We didn’t kill them off, kept them in the game and, by the end, we were lucky to get away with the point. For us, it was a poor show."

You can’t buy that wonderful self-certainty. In his condemnation, De Boer managed to ignore his own ineffective meandering in a match in which he was eventually replaced by Michael Mols after 74 minutes. The only surprise was that he did not remind us that, a minute after his departure, Hearts scored their equaliser.

But his engaging synopsis was a restorative after a painfully mediocre affair which became lively only in the 15 minutes that remained after Hearts scored. Two terrific saves from Craig Gordon from a volley by Stephen Hughes and a header from Craig Moore and another from Stefan Klos off a ferocious drive by Alan Maybury were the highlights of a first-half in which both teams seemed to be competing to see who was the better at passing to an opponent.

Support for the view that the football was of a generally low standard came from the unlikely figure of Craig Levein. The Hearts manager was obviously so unimpressed by the play that he offered the possibly unprecedented observation that referee Kenny Clark’s ludicrous decision to award Rangers a penalty kick may have been the best thing that could have happened.

When Robbie Neilson went shoulder-to-shoulder with Lovenkrands just inside the Hearts area, even the visiting fans must have been shocked when the award was made. Moore converted smoothly by driving the ball low to the right of Gordon. Levein thought the referee had erred, but added that Hearts’ later claim for a penalty for a hand ball against Moore was also unjustified.

"I didn’t think either was a penalty," said the manager, "but if they get theirs, I want mine. But maybe Rangers’ penalty was the best thing that happened, because the game was a lot better after it. There had been too much slipshod passing. Young Joe Hamill missed a great chance to win it for us late on, but I don’t know how he’s feeling about it, as his head is still between his knees.

"But Rangers also missed a great chance, to be fair, when they could have gone two up. What was pleasing for me was that we kept going and managed to put a team like Rangers under real pressure. At the end, I suppose we did look the stronger side, but being a goal behind and getting back into it and taking a point is better than not getting one."

Hamill was a little unfortunate in that the ball arrived, bouncing a little awkwardly, at his right foot, his weaker, and, from only about eight yards’ range, he pulled the drive wide of a goal that had been vacated by Klos as the goalkeeper had scrambled to try to clear a cross into the box.

Lovenkrands seemed to have no excuse for his miss, the perfect centre from Maurice Ross on the right finding the Dane’s left foot inside the six-yard box, from where he contrived to slice and sky the volley into the stand behind Gordon’s goal.

The 18-yard volley from which substitute Dennis Wyness gave Hearts the equaliser - a free kick from Steven Presley had been headed down to him by Moore - was the least Hearts merited and brought a result which was the most that either side deserved.

Ronald de Boer ended his post-match comments with a powerful hint that he will leave Rangers for Qatar at the end of the season. Having revealed that there is not yet "anything on the table" from Alex McLeish, he was asked if he would be prepared to play for the "pocket money" reportedly being earned by brother Frank.

"Mmm, don’t think so," he replied. "I mean, there is an offer from Qatar. That is on the table." He really will be missed.

Referee: K Clark. Attendance: 14,598

Taken from the Scotsman