Don't worry aboot it !

As wednesday wore on i said it more than once - "two nuthin, don't worry aboot it" in truth sometimes i added an " aye tae them"

Got to say tho i had no idea what to expect, all i knew was :-

We have been playing crap
We let ourselves down the last time
Hartley was back ( if a little early )
We had to play 4-5-1 to have any chance at all

So i was delighted to see the formation line up as a 4-5-1, bemused by Jamie Mole as the 1, but there you go another weirdness in the mad mad world of the Jambo land.
The fact that we had 5 in the middle and the five included Hartley was enough to make me think - "well at least we will compete against this mob"

I have spent a fraction of the last two weeks convincing myself that Athens are no great shakes really ( remember, Falkirk played us off the park as well ) - OK if you really get down to it you could argue a case that they are a league above but -
1 they aren't
2 i couldn't be arsed with that

So i opted for the self delusion that it was all about us and nothing to do with them, like i said we let ourselves down badly. Now that it is over and i have had a chance to sit back and think about it - Over the piece we failed the mental test, the failure on the football field was the consequence.

I sat down in front of the telly just as the teams were coming on to the pitch. My expectation level was about as flat as it gets, it was just like - my duty to watch it happen! but, as ever it was another 90 minutes and another shot at redemption. At this point glory? - that was a tiny flicker on the far horizon.
And the game started a wee bit like it did at Murrayfield a fortnight earlier - Athens are quick and skillfull and they have an idea how to get forward and they now how to find each other, and i think we were in danger of collapsing into the same cocoon we got ourselves into against them the last time. An early goal for Athens would have told greatly, but it didn't come.
Within ten minutes it was clear that Hearts formation and the addition of Brellier at the coal face meant we were a completely different proposition - and were giving as good as we got.
There was a defecnec splitting pass through Hearts back four, from 16 yards the Athens striker could/should have scored, a combination of poor finishing and good possitioning from Gordon made it look like an easy save. At the other end Jamie Mole played a great ball through to the onrushing Miko into the box, from 16 yards out he was foiled by some great defending.
Athens had some stinging shots, just like they did Murrayfield, but minus a deflection and allways just over, Gordon had it all covered. Athens also had a couple of corners that they muscled in on - Pretty sure in the Premier league Hearts defence would have dealt with them.
Then came the chance that may have changed it all - standard stuff for Hearts really but maybe not so familiar for Athens, a long throw from Neilson on the edge of the box, flicked on by Miko and Hartley is unmarked just 8 yards out, his header, strong as it was was too close to the keeper,who parried the ball to safety. hearts had one other chance in that first period of the game - Mole was played through, in on the keeper, he managed to slip the ball under the keeper but it just didn't have the pace to cross the line before the Athens defender got there to clear.
So it was toe to toe really and here is where it starts to hurt, about 5 minutes before the world collapsed, i had gotten over my ridiculous mindset of - not really expecting anything and started shouting at the telly ( a sure sign that i had changed my mind and realised that we could get something out of this game ) i shouted at the ridiculous challenge on Miko, he was elbowed from behind on an aerial challenge, this happens all the time but in this game it was a telling oversight by the referee not to book the Athens defender.
I was really enjoying this game.
Within a couple of minutes Brellier goes up for a challenge and is sandwitched between a couple of Athens players and takes a sore one to what now looked like a bulbous and purple nose.
From the coverage what happened was, Brellier ambled off for what might have been a bit of treatment to his conk but he seemed to come back on with a booking? - presumably
for being " in possession of an offensive nose".
A couple of minutes later the self same Cyrano De Bergerac makes a rash challenge, similar but LESS offensive than the challenge on Miko i mentioned a sentence or two ago, and gets himself a second booking and walks.
I am incredulous at this and texts start flying and the only thing my mind is settled on is "This referee has been bought".
I don't want to bleat, i hate the whole paranoia thing and i can't remember when i have ever really believed that a referee was guilty of corruption, sure i have known that they have made horrendous mistakes, but corruption, no! My immediate reaction to this decision was - "This game has been bought, they have bought this game the b£$"&ards". To complete my bleating that i am not going to do, i have also never heard a Scottish puntid come out with such a clearly stated expression of "this game has been bought" than Pat Nevin came out with on the BBC broadcast at half time. And lets face it folks, Pat Nevin is not, lets say Ian Wright, that is to say he can string a coherent sentence together.

So we are down to ten again but it is more than that, Brellier was the concrete that allowed Hearts to play against this team and without him the game was lost. From this point on we struggled to compete and were limited to the odd break where at best we would be 2 against 3. The chances of turning the tie round under these circumstances was next to nil and thats what happened , nil.
Hearts got beat 5 - 1 on aggregate and Athens never scored a goal against 11 men and i am not sure if they were ever going to score against a full compliment Hearts team, for all their supposed quality advantage and superior class.
Neil McCann, bear with me for a sec. I was quite pleased in a way with his sending off. He has suffered a lot since the start of the season, the crowd are on his back, he is not performing, he is under performing, he is - not the player he used to be. So Neil gets caught in possession maybe 3 or 4 times on Wednesday night - all in our half and all when we are down to ten men and all when he has 3 Athens players around him. Neil, for christ sake, just belt the ball up the park man. He continued however to try to take some pressure off by trying to find a pass that was not just a " belt up the park" - finally he gets caught again and snaps and lunges in both feet from 5 yards out, so a straight red card. But at least it is clear - he cares. Keep caring and all is not lost.
Hartley who had put in some sterling work was tiring also by the time he was subbed around the hour mark.
Hearts buckled in the end under the pressure of 9 against 11 and lost 3 goals and the champions league dream is over until we stake a claim once again on this league.
There is one thing tho that screams out from Wednesday night that was distinctly missing last weekend at Ibrox


Staking a claim on this league, you better believe it !