I don't really know what to say about this game. I left home at 14.05 and walked down to Tynecastle and took my seat in new stand. A three-some came and sat next to me and it turned out they were Cole Stockton's parents and sister who had come up from Liverpool to watch him. It was really cold and miserable and one floodlight pylon was not working which sort of summed up the game as it was driech. Hearts made three changes from last week bringing in Harry Cochrane, Jamie Walker and Cole Stockton. Throughout the whole game Hearts were on top albeit Ross County hit the post through Alex Schalk in three minutes and then he had a goal ruled out for offside later in on the first half. I thought the  Hearts midfield was far better than last week with Walker and Arnaud Djoum having their best games of the season so far. It just seemed Hearts missed a goal scorer. I like Isma as a player although I think he is a good scorer of good goals rather than a good goal scorer. By that

The new stand saga has now reached a conclusion. An announcement was made last night that the Council were happy with the safety in the ground and subject to a further Council inspection at 8.00am this morning the match would go ahead. Contractors worked through the night to rectify those areas the Council had concerns about and at around 9.30 this morning official conformation was issued that the game was on. I was really looking forward to the return to Tynecastle but every time I mentioned it I got a sarcastic response from Natalie which just proves women don't understand football. As there was to be pre-match entertainment I left the house early and after going through the new electronic turnstiles reached my seat by 2.20. Pete took the photo below from the Wheatfield stand showing me on my phone after I arrived in my new seat. While the stand looks empty most ticket holders were still outside taking photos. The areas underneath the stand still require attention i.e.

  With Hearts not playing until tomorrow, assuming the new stand passes building control, I decided to go to the Scottish Cup tie this round at Ainslie Park. The Hearts stand saga took a further twist earlier this week when it was announced that the Council had not issued the necessary certificates to allow the stand to be used on Sunday. Work has been going on during the week and at times carried on into the night to allow the necessary permissions to be received, without which Sundays game v Patrick Thistle may be required to be postponed. A decision is expected to be made sometime today. The game at Ainslie Park should be good with Spartans third in the Lowland League and Fraserburgh top of the Highland League. Having not seen Fraserburgh play until the previous round of the Cup at Edinburgh University I will now be seeing them twice in six weeks. As usual I walked to Ainslie Park arriving about 30 minutes before the kick-off. My season ticket is not valid for Scottish Cup

No SPL games this weekend due to the international break. Was not sure where to go but decided to go and watch Penicuik v Kilbirnie Ladeside in the Scottish Junior Cup second round replay. Turned out to be a great decision. I have been to Penicuik previously this season and thought they played some good football. They are currently third in the East Junior Super League with a game in hand over current leaders Lochee United. Kilbirnie are second in the West Region Super League so teams should be evenly matched. The tie was originally scheduled for a fortnight ago but was called off an hour before kick-off due to a waterlogged pitch. The game was then played last Saturday and ended in a 2-2 draw, hence the replay today. As the game had to be played to a finish today, kick-off was early at 14.00. Caught a 15 bus in Lothian Road and arrived at the ground at 13.30. £6 admission charge and £1.50 for a programme.  The first half had Penicuik on the attack for most of the time.

A nother (and hopefully the last) game at Murrayfield for Hearts. I walked to the ground via Haymarket. After going through the turnstiles I had a chat with Louise at the Foundation of Hearts stall. I first met Louise through my work and took her to hospitality at Tynecastle as my guest. She was thrilled to meet her hero at that time, Jaunjo who dropped into the hospitality suite after the game. Louise is now on the board of FoH and she persuaded me to buy a FoH beermat. Hearts again made changes with Daniel Baur making his debut in the problematic left-back position. Daniel is normally a central defender in the U-20s and it seemed a strange move to field him out of position in his first game. Don Cowie returned in midfield replacing the injured Jamie Walker. There has been speculation in the press that Leeds United are to make a bid for Harry Cochrane and it was surprising that he was not included in th match day squad. As this was the last home game prior to Remembrance Sun

With Hearts not playing till tomorrow I had to decide where to go today. I had thought about going to watch Edinburgh University v Edusport Academy but decided to go to Ainslie Park (again!) for Edinburgh City v Stirling Albion. As the game at Edinburgh University ended 5-3 to the home side it was maybe I did not make the best choice. Again I walked to the game and covered the three miles in less than an hour. I paid £6 to get in after showing my Hearts season ticket and bought a programme for £2.50. The City programme is really good with a lot of reading in it. Maybe it is better for a neutral who is reading new information than a City fan but content is interesting to a football fan. Stirling Albion are currently top of League Two, two points ahead of Montrose in second place. However in recent weeks things have not being going too well with a home defeat last week to Stenhousemuir and a shock Scottish Cup exit to East of Scotland League Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale a coupl