Early promise fades as Hearts run riot

DUNDEE UNITED’S unbeaten away record bit the dust at Tynecastle yesterday—but only after they’d threatened to cause an upset at the expense of the team sitting second top of the SPL, writes Graeme Dey.

United had much the better of the first half hour against a Hearts side showing six changes to the line-up which exited the UEFA Cup last week.

However the Jam Tarts got their act together in time to establish a 2-0 lead at the break—and although Craig Brewster’s charges gave a more than decent account of themselves thereafter, it was game over.

While they conceded two further goals late on, overall there was much to appreciate about the Tangerines’ showing.

They played some reasonable football, showed a first-class spirit and contributed to an extremely entertaining 90 minutes in greater measure than the scoreline might suggest.

The one criticism that could be levelled at the display—apart from conceding four goals—was the failure to convert any of a handful of excellent scoring opportunities they fashioned while on top.

This point was acknowledged by boss Craig Brewster.

“I can hardly believe it finished 4-0 but Hearts were ruthless and we weren’t,” he said.

“The performance was good—the result a nightmare.

“But that’s what happens if you don’t score or you score and it’s chalked off.”

“I thought the first 30 minutes was excellent from our perspective and I can’t believe we’d a goal disallowed at that stage. But football can be cruel.”

Three times during their impressive start to the match United carved open the home rearguard but good goalkeeping, the woodwork and a couple of decisions from the match officials contrived to prevent them from scoring.

And how they paid for not cashing in on their early dominance of a disjointed looking home side.

A kindly break of the ball presented lone front man Noel Hunt with the first of the chances but his finish, driven into the ground, was kept out by Craig Gordon’s left elbow as it bounced upwards.

Next it was Stuart Duff’s turn as Craig Conway’s cross from Barry Robson’s corner picked him out unmarked at the back post. Duff’s diving header beat Gordon but came back off the junction of post and bar.

And when Robson went down under a challenge as he sought to stick away the loose ball referee Eddie Smith ignored the skipper’s appeal for a penalty.

If Duff passed up a decent opportunity then, he was guilty of being even more wasteful on 27 minutes when a great cross from Christian Kalvenes left him one on one with the keeper.

Duff should have buried a header but his effort was blocked by Gordon and the ball broke to Hunt, who knocked it into a empty net only for assistant Tom Murphy to raise his flag for offside.

That ruling appeared to be against Hunt, although there were suggestions subsequently that Murphy had merely been slow to penalise Duff.

The body language of Hearts boss Valdas Ivanauskas spoke volumes for the way the game was going at that stage, the Lithuanian completely unable to disguise growing frustration.

But within two minutes of the disallowed United “goal” his mood had changed completely as Andrius Velicka found himself in space on the edge of the visitors’ box and Alan Archibald, sliding in to intercept the Lithuanian’s finish, succeeded only in deflecting it high past Derek Stillie.

From that point it was a completely different game.

Stillie pulled off a great save from Mirsad Beslija, stretching high to his right to push aside Beslija’s clever chip, then enjoyed a slice of luck as Saulius Mikoliunas blazed the loose ball over.

The keeper might have done better, however, as Hearts went two up on 38 minutes. Stillie perhaps ought to have come for Beslija’s cross into the six yard box but opted to stay on his line, leaving David Proctor to cope with two attackers—which he didn’t—and Juho Makela volleyed home.

Hearts had a spot-kick claim for handball against Kalvenes rejected before shell-shocked United reached the sanctuary of the dressing room and an interval talk from Brewster which was somewhat different to the one he’d envisaged giving a quarter of an hour beforehand.

Comfortably placed as they were, Hearts were able to relax and pick their passes, but they managed to create few real openings—until the closing minutes.

The home side went close to adding to their goal haul when dealing effectively with another Beslija cross proved beyond Proctor, who managed only to nod the ball into the path of Deividas Cesnauskis, who clipped the top of Stillie’s crossbar with a dipping finish.

At the other end United kept plugging away and should have made the closing minutes more interesting when Collin Samuel held off Steven Pressley to get to the byline, only for Hunt to arrive marginally too late to tap in his low cross.

And they were promptly put to the sword.

Scotland midfielder Paul Hartley made it three from the spot on 87 minutes after Archibald, having survived a handball shout, brought down Cesnauskis just inside the area.

And two minutes later sub Jamie Mole completed the scoring, knocking home from close range after Bednar got the better of Archibald to feed him.

Christophe Berra of Hearts was booked, along with United’s Mark Kerr.

Attendance—16,849

Hearts—Gordon, Fyssas, Pressley, Tall, Aguiar, Hartley, Beslija, Makela (Bednar 61), Mikoliunas (Cesnauskis 56), Berra, Velicka(Mole 83). Subs—Banks, Neilson, Wallace, Zaliukas.

Dundee United—Stillie, Kalvenes, McCracken, Archibald, Kerr, Hunt, Robson, Duff, Conway (Samuel 60), Cameron, Proctor. Subs—McLean, Mair, Brewster, Kenneth, Easton, Smith.

Referee—Eddie Smith

thecourier.co.uk