Romanov watches Union strike a blow to Hearts

Published Date: 10 July 2011
By Mark Schweitzer-Thomson
at Stadion An der Alten Försterei
Union Berlin 3
Silvio 23; Terrode 57; Ede 61

Hearts 0
Hearts suffered a comprehensive friendly defeat by German second-tier side Union Berlin in their first pre-season test against professional opposition.

Three slips of concentration by the visitors' defence gifted their hosts a relatively straightforward victory.

The Edinburgh club's majority shareholder Vladimir Romanov, sporting a bandage on his right hand, attended the match but refused to speak to members of the media keen to gauge the Lithuanian businessman's opinion on Craig Thomson, the young defender suspended by the club after being placed on the sex offenders' register.

On the pitch, the touring team showed flashes of promise but failed to gain any reward, and they were undone on 23 minutes when Union scored with their first attack. Silvio appeared odds-on to score as he confronted Jambos No.1 Marian Kello at a one-on-one, but Andy Webster slid in to retrieve possession. Just as Webster, ball at his feet, stood up to advance away from the edge of the penalty area, Silvio seemed to clearly shove the Scotland international back to the ground, and the Brazilian striker stole back the ball and sidefooted into the bottom right-hand corner past the exposed Kello from 15 yards.

Hearts fell both out of the game and further behind as the second half wore on, with Union doubling their lead on 57 minutes. Silvio squared a pass across the Hearts 18-yard line to Terodde, who nudged the ball into the box towards a team-mate only for his stray pass to fall at the feet of Adrian Mrowiec. The Pole looked to panic in attempting to make a clearance and sent the ball straight back to Terodde, who instinctively swung his right boot to strike the ball first time into the top left-hand corner.

Four minutes later, the 6,143 crowd had further cause for celebration when Silvio played a measured pass into the path of Ede's perfectly-timed run forward from halfway, and the Union striker strode forward and inside from the left flank before easing the ball to the left of the advancing Kello and into the net.

Hearts will send squads expected to comprise a mixture of first team and reserve players to further friendly games this coming week at Cowdenbeath (Tuesday) and Livingston (Saturday) before their pre-season reaches a climax next Sunday when Belgians Royal Antwerp visit.

Union Berlin: Hottecke, Quiring, Madouni (Gohlert 73), Stuff, Pfertzel, Kohlmann, Karl, Terrode (Skrzybski 71), Menz (Parensen 71), Ede, Silvio..

Hearts: Kello, Hamill (Barr 73), Grainger, Mrowiec (McGowan 68), Zaliukas (Holt 84), Webster, Templeton (Novikovas 68), Black (Stevenson 68), Sutton (Smith 68), Taouil, Obua.

Attendance: 6,143.

Taken from the Scotsman