Pressley restored but Hearts held

Patrick Glenn
Sunday November 26, 2006
The Observer

Hearts supporters will be only slightly less feverish over their club's troubles, after the apparent achievement of a sort of cold peace between Vladimir Romanov and the Scotland players who had appeared to provoke the club's Lithuanian owner into reprisals in recent weeks.

The goalless draw secured at Inverness Caledonian Thistle was Hearts' sixth successive outing without a victory. It is a run that includes three defeats, but with Romanov returned from his own country in a reported attempt to calm the waters, this was an occasion when even the result seemed of secondary importance.

In an age when it seems that a day does not pass without bizarre events at Hearts generating headlines, even team selection is awaited with a deep sense of intrigue. The news from Inverness that Steven Pressley, Robbie Neilson and Paul Hartley were included would provide some relief for Hearts supporters thoroughly dejected by the recent turmoil.

The restoration of Pressley, in particular, was the first sign of a relaxation of tensions. The captain, flanked by fellow Scotland players Hartley and Craig Gordon, had been the players' spokesman three weeks ago when finally going public with the revelation that Romanov's erratic direction had caused serious unrest in the dressing room.

Left out for the 1-1 draw at Falkirk and for the 1-0 home defeat by Rangers last Sunday, Pressley had appeared to be suffering repercussions from his 'rebellious' action. Neilson and Hartley had also been omitted recently in what had appeared to be a declaration of omnipotence from Romanov, the entrepreneur seemingly emphasising that no amount of dissension would interfere with his authority.

Perhaps a certain cooling-off was effected by Valdas Ivanauskas, the head coach having returned to Tynecastle on Friday after a five-week absence necessitated by a 'stress-related' illness.

Perhaps because of the attention paid to Hearts - and to Rangers - Aberdeen have, almost unnoticed, pushed into second place in the championship. Their 3-0 win over Dunfermline at East End Park took their unbeaten run to six matches.

The visitors took advantage of the Fife side's extraordinary inability to produce the first goal in a match. It is something they have failed to achieve in all 16 league outings, their three victories having featured a fightback.

Having overcome Dundee United's opener a week earlier, however, there would be no repeat after Lee Miller had given Aberdeen a second-half lead. Darren Mackie's late double made it a losing introduction for Irishman Stephen Kenny, who left Derry City to take over from Jim Leishman at Dunfermline.

There was further disappointment for Kenny when news arrived of Motherwell's eventful 4-2 victory over Falkirk at Fir Park. Dunfermline and the Lanarkshire side had been level on 12 points at kick-off.

Almost typical of matches initially played in a somnolent atmosphere, the Motherwell affair erupted into previously unsuspected action when referee Craig Thomson awarded the home side two penalties within three minutes on either side of half time. These followed the goal from the prolific Anthony Stokes, who would be sent off later for two bookings, that had given Falkirk the lead.

Richie Foran converted the first penalty in first-half stoppage time, but his taking of the second - also successful - was considerably delayed as the referee and his assistants unravelled the crowd of protesting bodies wearing dark blue shirts.

The official would be pestered by protesters again when Russell Latapy equalised for Falkirk, the home players claiming Stokes had handled in the process of making his contribution to the equaliser. But Scott McDonald and substitute Calum Elliot, with the 5,000th and 5,001st goals to be scored in the Premier League since its inception in 1998, rendered all argument invalid with a goal each in the closing stages.