Hearts stumble but Gretna fall

HEARTS 2 Velicka 3, 41 (pen)

GRETNA 0

THERE was the novelty at Tynecastle yesterday of seeing a club other than Hearts in apparent meltdown – and also the novelty of notching three SPL wins in a row, for the first time since October 2006.

But it was perhaps just as well for the home side that Gretna seemed, in the final quarter of this match, to be in a state of some disarray, because this was an erratic Hearts performance.

The home team started impressively but lifted their foot from the accelerator, re-applying it only in the final 10 minutes. In the end they did enough to end the sequence of 1-1 draws (over 90 minutes) between the two sides in their three previous meetings, including two in the SPL this season, and to banish the idea that Gretna might be a bogey side.

Indeed, a late and sustained assault on the visitors' goal could – and should – have added to Hearts' two goals, in particular one chance, after 89 minutes, that Andrius Velicka converted to complete his hat trick – or so he thought until the whistle blew for offside.

The challenge for Gretna became impossible following the sending off, after 64 minutes, of Danny Hall for a second booking, this one for an illegal challenge on Audrius Ksanavicius.

That seemed to be the catalyst for a shouting match between the Gretna manager Davie Irons and his captain Chris Innes, though Irons dismissed it later as "heat of the moment stuff," explaining that the fact he was suffering a cold and yelling his instructions in a "Dumfries and Galloway accent" meant Innes simply couldn't hear him.

Irons' counterpart, Stephen Frail, was satisfied with the result, and more so with his side's recovery from second bottom, just one place above Gretna, in the SPL. "Now we're two points off the top six," he said.

"We want to get there and then see where we go."

The only disappointment, added Frail, was "that we didn't put any of our other chances away".

Hearts began the match at a furious tempo, and looked to be in fine form, moving the ball with pace and power and pressing Gretna back from the first minute.

Irons noted that his is "a new side" that could take time to gel. "I thought they'd have longer than three minutes anyway," he added with a half smile.

That was all it took for Hearts to open the scoring, but it could have been their second. In the first minute Velicka latched on to a pass from midfield and was clean through. He rounded the goalkeeper and looked certain to open the scoring, but the ball ran a little too far and the angle proved too tight.

Barely two minutes later and there was a similar move, a fine pass from Michael Stewart in midfield finding Velicka lurking on the left.

He had far more to do this time, but cut in to the edge of the box and unleashed a powerful shot that sailed past Greg Fleming and into the back of the net.

It was a great finish, a great start for Hearts, and at this stage they seemed capable of scoring every time they charged forward – which was often. Gretna, starting with a couple of the four young outfield players they recently acquired, and adding the other two in the second half, appeared theirs for the taking.

Velicka was again instrumental in a nice passing move on the edge of the box that almost set up Stewart. But there was also, in the Gretna counter-attack that followed the breakdown of that move, the first sign that the visitors could pose a threat.

The diminutive striker John-Paul Kissock, a loan acquisition from Everton, scampered forward with the ball at his feet – and although that move also broke down, it hinted that Kissock, easily the most impressive of Gretna's new boys yesterday, will offer energy, enthusiasm and no little skill. He had some neat tricks – including one that took him past Robbie Neilson in the box in the second half – and Irons raved about him afterwards as a player "with a big career in football in front of him".

It was a Kissock corner that created, albeit indirectly, Gretna's best chance of the afternoon. It was partially cleared to Gavin Skelton, who popped a high ball back into the box for Kenny Deuchar, who got his head to it but, from close range, directed it narrowly over.

Four minutes before half time Velicka won a penalty after a clumsy challenge by Hall, and from the spot he fired it low to the left. Fleming dived the right way, but the kick was accurate and powerful. The goal put a bit of a false gloss on the first half, and Hall's booking for the challenge also proved significant, given that his second booking would see him dismissed.

Irons said he wasn't convinced by either of Hall's bookings, which is perhaps what he meant when he later admitted: "What I can say and what I'm allowed to say are two different things."

MAN OF THE MATCH: Andrius Velicka scored two excellent goals – including the penalty – and was desperate for his hat-trick. He got a third on 89 minutes but it was ruled offside.

ASIDE: If Hearts lacked precision in the first half they could have spoken to their half-time guest, world bowls champion and Hearts supporter Alex Marshall, or Alex "Tattie" Marshall as he was introduced.