NO-ONE would have confused this gritty display with a celebration of the finer points of the beautiful game, but at least there was enough resolve and conviction from Hearts to give Stevie Frail's men an outside chance next weekend of claiming a place in the top six.
Since winning ugly seems to be all the rage these days – Rangers showing the rest of the SPL the way by regularly fielding a lone striker – Hearts arrived at the conclusion in this game that beggars can't be choosers. Leaving Christian Nade up front
on his own, Laryea Kingston and Saulius Mikoliunas were deployed on either side of Michael Stewart, Eggert Jonsson and Ruben Palazuelos.
It was a system designed to choke off the lines of supply to United's forwards and make Hearts harder to beat. After losing 11 goals in their three previous encounters with Craig Levein's side, this was a commonsense solution to an ongoing problem. Rather than take the game to United and leave themselves vulnerable to the counter-attack, Hearts attempted to play the Tannadice club at their own game.
Thanks to a towering performance from their captain Christophe Berra, who looked every inch an emerging international centre-back, and enough skilful interventions from their most talented footballer, Kingston, Hearts went on to win this match on merit. On a day when the result mattered more than the performance, the bottom line was Hearts banked three points and retain a chance of staggering into the top six if they defeat Kilmarnock at Rugby Park on Saturday and Falkirk lose at Pittodrie.
Remembering only too well how it feels to have to cope with the weight of high expectations in Gorgie from his own time in charge of Hearts, Levein had no quibble with the pragmatic system of play used by Hearts.
"They've been suffering from a lack of confidence and I don't blame Hearts in the slightest for the way they played," reflected the United manager. "What was important for Hearts was to win the match. They scored a goal against the run of play and then they shut up shop. They started time-wasting ten minutes into the second half. But, good on them, they needed the points.
"Hearts are a little bit vulnerable at the moment and if we'd scored first we'd have won the match. But we didn't. We gave them something to hold onto. They've been getting a little bit of criticism and so has Stevie. I know myself from having been in that position exactly how difficult the job is. So if you have to shut up shop to take the points, then so be it."
Levein felt his own side lacked a spark up front and one of the reasons United found scoring opportunities thin on the ground was the barrier erected by Berra. Against the imposing figure of Mark De Vries, the Hearts captain won all but every ball in the air, rallied his team-mates with impressive authority and looked like a player who will represent his country in the not too distant future.
If he was a little disappointed not to make his Scotland debut against Croatia last week, at least Berra's self-esteem was enhanced by his involvement with the squad and his performance against United was one of his best for Hearts. "None of the (Scotland] substitutes knew whether they would get on or not," he recalled. "Obviously, I was disappointed not to play. But hopefully there will be other chances for me in the future. I didn't sulk about it and came out against United and put in a good performance, as did the whole team."
Hearts got their noses in front after Willo Flood failed to control an overhit pass in central midfield. Jonsson latched onto the loose ball and sent a fine, diagonal pass into the path of Kingston. The Ghana internationalist ghosted into the space between Garry Kenneth and Christian Kalvenes and gave himself a shooting opportunity as he strode into the box. Kingston still had plenty to do at this point and perhaps Lukasz Zaluska, the United goalkeeper, should have offered more cover at the near post. Nevertheless, Kingston's diagonal shot was struck early enough to rip through a narrow gap into the corner of the net.
In truth, after that 27th minute goal, Hearts only threatened intermittently. Nade might have scored from the inside-right position when Kenneth was caught out of position and Mikoliunas missed a close range sitter. Otherwise, the contest remained in the balance until the closing stages when United were reduced to nine men. Kenneth went off for two late yellow card lunges, the first on Kingston, the second on Nade. Danny Swanson, the hero of the hour against Motherwell the previous week, was booked for dissent not long after appearing as a substitute and was subsequently shown a straight red for a reckless challenge on Jonsson. Luckily his boot didn't make contact with the Hearts' player's leg, but the tackle was high and late.
If owner Vladimir Romanov, who was sitting in the director's box for the first time since Aberdeen were defeated in November, needed any re-assurance about handing responsibility to a new manager next season, he might reflect on the progress made by Frail – in their last 11 league games, Hearts have only lost to the Old Firm – and the potential which surely exists under a more experienced leader who is given authority over team affairs.
The full article contains 930 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
