Originally sent on 24th September, after gubbing the poorest Rangers team i have ever seen - even worse than the mid eighties
WE SHALL NOT BE MOVED !!
2 trillion decibels rang out at Tynecastle today, in a ( get this ) ten minute standing ovation at the end of the victory.
Once again i wish you could see this, it is a fantastic atmosphere and some pretty good football as well. The only problem is the belief factor which is growing exponentially with every victory. They are selling T-shirts in Gorgie sports shops with the logo
2005 2006
BELIEVE
Sure we all need to believe we can keep this going, it's just the fall should/when it happen/s will be catastrophic if this carries on much more, the Tynecastle faithfull are just so high and they believe for sure they believe. This is now the best start to a season for 91 years and two more victories will make it our best ever!
During the week Hearts received their first wake up call, a 1-0 defeat in the diddy cup to Livingston, we played half a team and never got going. I guess i would say that, if not playing the next 3 games in the league cup means we stay in contention for the league for 3 more weeks then i will take that.
So to the white hot cauldron of Rangers at Tynecastle today, the teams were greeted onto a perfect pitch by an enormous cheer, a battery of fire works and pyrotechnics thrust skyward from the centre circle and the sound system battering out the Hearts song. Remember the old days when some bloke would mutter some incomprehensible nonsense over a crackly old tannoy. I never did know what that was all about, i have discovered - he reads out the teamsheet? Hearts and scottish football have come a long way in the last decade or so, it's mad but i think i would still give it all up to stand uncovered behind the goals on a rain soaked February.
The game kicks off and immediately the confidence running through the Hearts team is evident, you know about this, there is allways something in the back of your head when you play either side of the gruesome twosome, you almost know that things will conspire against you.The ref will give them a dodgy penalty or Ally Mcmoist will pop up in the last minute to steal your hard fought victory. Or they might just sweep you aside with a 4 - 0 gubbing, you just know that something bad is going to happen you just don't know when. Well NO i tell thee, this Hearts team have no fear of this Rangers team, they have no underlying lack of confidence constricting their football. This team think, no they know that they are better than this Rangers team and it shows.
The first ten minutes are a bit scrappy, probing, nobody on top, the ref is already annoying me as he is blowing for just about everything. Without warning Hearts suddenly find a couple of passes, a gear or two that Rangers don't have in their make up and we force them hard back into their own third. Here comes another reference to the old days, playing Rangers we could allways do this at times during a game but it would be by playing out of our skins, somehow finding football from somewhere that against other teams we just can't tap. The fabled 'raising your game'. Thats the point, we didn't raise our game, thats why we should and most inside Tynecastle do, believe. We just played our regular football.
Most of the time when we play our game it is some combination of Rudi Skacel and someone else, today it was Skacel and Roman Bednar ( more about him later ). Rudi rips the Rangers right back to shreds on numerous occassions, you could see him looking at his bench like he was a fighter desperate for his trainer to throw in the towel. A few corners are forced and the third one is zipped over by Paul Hartley - Roman Bednar loses his marker and meets it ten yards out, the keeper has no chance as he slams his header into the far corner. This is a goal you would have been very proud of. Roman Bednar, Burley suggests is the pick of the crop, 21 year old czech U21 internationalist 6ft 3 and very athletic looking plays his football with both feet. Looking better each week and looks like he could be playing in the latter stages of the champions league in the next few years.
Hearts more or less dominate the next 20 minutes with a couple more chances to stretch their lead. I hear you say, "but Derek what about the chances that Rangers have had, your match report is too biased i am not getting a good enough account of the game, i'll need to buy the Daily Record in the morning to balance things up". Well, they haven't had any yet! and they continue to not have any for the rest of the half. Perhaps just one scrappy cross which wasn't cleared well enough and Craig Gordon had to turn round the post. Once again i am never nervous of losing a goal, this is bizarre!
Then!
30 odd minutes in and Bednar is cut down, i think the Rangers player gets the ball first so i am not too bothered but within a minute or two Bednar limps off and away to Hospital for an x-ray and possible cartlidge operation - this is as good a reason as any to NOT believe. Do we have the squad to deal with the old firm hobbling our team to stop us winning the title - i don't know about that? Bednar could be out for 6 weeks or so and we certainly need him up there. Within another 5 minutes Taskis Fyassis our Greek left back ( see earlier reports for my over the top opinions of him ) also leaves the field with a recurrence of a thigh strain. On comes Stephen Simmons and Jamie McAllister and Hearts lose their shape completely and are left to hang on til Half time - For all that Rangers still can't penetrate into Hearts third.
Half time.
Now i was speaking to Claire at half time trying to explain about the expected onslaught at the start of the second half - i am saying "we will have to weather a storm here, maybe try and catch them on the break etc etc etc". Within a couple of minutes of the second half though it is pretty obvious that this Rangers team don't have an onslought to throw at us and we remain comfortable. We are not troubling them either tho, the game is now scrappy again, the ref is blowing for absolutely everything, ruining the game. I am still comfortable. As the game moves on past the hour mark, Rangers are becoming more and more frustrated, ragged and violent, the game starts to lose itself in a mellee of rash challenges. It is pretty obvious that they have realised the only way they can beat us is by dragging the game into a battle. Hearts rise above this by finding a bit of football again and start to hit Rangers on the break at first and then we take control of the game again. Looking the more likely without really troubling the Rangers keeper, Hearts maintain control until that troublesome last 5 minutes when there is the slenderest of leads. With all shape to the game lost and Rangers desperately throwing whatever they have, which is only Dado Prso ( he is a good player ), Hearts are content just to clear their lines.
A very loud shout for a penalty for hand ball, not given with a ruling of 'ball played the man' ( i thought it was a penalty ) and that was it No joy for the blue nosed legions now 11 points behind Hearts and quite possibly out of the championship race. Alex McLeish will be sacked before christmas.
Next up we are away to Falkirk, there is then an international weekend as Scotland attempt valiantly in vain to qualify for next summer's world cup and then we are away to Celtic. So there is an air of realism creeping in here, Hearts unblemished record will not see out October. If we get 4 out of 6 from these two games i will be delighted and we will all still believe.
2 trillion decibels rang out at Tynecastle today, in a ( get this ) ten minute standing ovation at the end of the victory.
Once again i wish you could see this, it is a fantastic atmosphere and some pretty good football as well. The only problem is the belief factor which is growing exponentially with every victory. They are selling T-shirts in Gorgie sports shops with the logo
2005 2006
BELIEVE
Sure we all need to believe we can keep this going, it's just the fall should/when it happen/s will be catastrophic if this carries on much more, the Tynecastle faithfull are just so high and they believe for sure they believe. This is now the best start to a season for 91 years and two more victories will make it our best ever!
During the week Hearts received their first wake up call, a 1-0 defeat in the diddy cup to Livingston, we played half a team and never got going. I guess i would say that, if not playing the next 3 games in the league cup means we stay in contention for the league for 3 more weeks then i will take that.
So to the white hot cauldron of Rangers at Tynecastle today, the teams were greeted onto a perfect pitch by an enormous cheer, a battery of fire works and pyrotechnics thrust skyward from the centre circle and the sound system battering out the Hearts song. Remember the old days when some bloke would mutter some incomprehensible nonsense over a crackly old tannoy. I never did know what that was all about, i have discovered - he reads out the teamsheet? Hearts and scottish football have come a long way in the last decade or so, it's mad but i think i would still give it all up to stand uncovered behind the goals on a rain soaked February.
The game kicks off and immediately the confidence running through the Hearts team is evident, you know about this, there is allways something in the back of your head when you play either side of the gruesome twosome, you almost know that things will conspire against you.The ref will give them a dodgy penalty or Ally Mcmoist will pop up in the last minute to steal your hard fought victory. Or they might just sweep you aside with a 4 - 0 gubbing, you just know that something bad is going to happen you just don't know when. Well NO i tell thee, this Hearts team have no fear of this Rangers team, they have no underlying lack of confidence constricting their football. This team think, no they know that they are better than this Rangers team and it shows.
The first ten minutes are a bit scrappy, probing, nobody on top, the ref is already annoying me as he is blowing for just about everything. Without warning Hearts suddenly find a couple of passes, a gear or two that Rangers don't have in their make up and we force them hard back into their own third. Here comes another reference to the old days, playing Rangers we could allways do this at times during a game but it would be by playing out of our skins, somehow finding football from somewhere that against other teams we just can't tap. The fabled 'raising your game'. Thats the point, we didn't raise our game, thats why we should and most inside Tynecastle do, believe. We just played our regular football.
Most of the time when we play our game it is some combination of Rudi Skacel and someone else, today it was Skacel and Roman Bednar ( more about him later ). Rudi rips the Rangers right back to shreds on numerous occassions, you could see him looking at his bench like he was a fighter desperate for his trainer to throw in the towel. A few corners are forced and the third one is zipped over by Paul Hartley - Roman Bednar loses his marker and meets it ten yards out, the keeper has no chance as he slams his header into the far corner. This is a goal you would have been very proud of. Roman Bednar, Burley suggests is the pick of the crop, 21 year old czech U21 internationalist 6ft 3 and very athletic looking plays his football with both feet. Looking better each week and looks like he could be playing in the latter stages of the champions league in the next few years.
Hearts more or less dominate the next 20 minutes with a couple more chances to stretch their lead. I hear you say, "but Derek what about the chances that Rangers have had, your match report is too biased i am not getting a good enough account of the game, i'll need to buy the Daily Record in the morning to balance things up". Well, they haven't had any yet! and they continue to not have any for the rest of the half. Perhaps just one scrappy cross which wasn't cleared well enough and Craig Gordon had to turn round the post. Once again i am never nervous of losing a goal, this is bizarre!
Then!
30 odd minutes in and Bednar is cut down, i think the Rangers player gets the ball first so i am not too bothered but within a minute or two Bednar limps off and away to Hospital for an x-ray and possible cartlidge operation - this is as good a reason as any to NOT believe. Do we have the squad to deal with the old firm hobbling our team to stop us winning the title - i don't know about that? Bednar could be out for 6 weeks or so and we certainly need him up there. Within another 5 minutes Taskis Fyassis our Greek left back ( see earlier reports for my over the top opinions of him ) also leaves the field with a recurrence of a thigh strain. On comes Stephen Simmons and Jamie McAllister and Hearts lose their shape completely and are left to hang on til Half time - For all that Rangers still can't penetrate into Hearts third.
Half time.
Now i was speaking to Claire at half time trying to explain about the expected onslaught at the start of the second half - i am saying "we will have to weather a storm here, maybe try and catch them on the break etc etc etc". Within a couple of minutes of the second half though it is pretty obvious that this Rangers team don't have an onslought to throw at us and we remain comfortable. We are not troubling them either tho, the game is now scrappy again, the ref is blowing for absolutely everything, ruining the game. I am still comfortable. As the game moves on past the hour mark, Rangers are becoming more and more frustrated, ragged and violent, the game starts to lose itself in a mellee of rash challenges. It is pretty obvious that they have realised the only way they can beat us is by dragging the game into a battle. Hearts rise above this by finding a bit of football again and start to hit Rangers on the break at first and then we take control of the game again. Looking the more likely without really troubling the Rangers keeper, Hearts maintain control until that troublesome last 5 minutes when there is the slenderest of leads. With all shape to the game lost and Rangers desperately throwing whatever they have, which is only Dado Prso ( he is a good player ), Hearts are content just to clear their lines.
A very loud shout for a penalty for hand ball, not given with a ruling of 'ball played the man' ( i thought it was a penalty ) and that was it No joy for the blue nosed legions now 11 points behind Hearts and quite possibly out of the championship race. Alex McLeish will be sacked before christmas.
Next up we are away to Falkirk, there is then an international weekend as Scotland attempt valiantly in vain to qualify for next summer's world cup and then we are away to Celtic. So there is an air of realism creeping in here, Hearts unblemished record will not see out October. If we get 4 out of 6 from these two games i will be delighted and we will all still believe.
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