Ready for Derby game. Match programme arrived on Saturday and cover is based on the movie The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. The movie was released in 1966 which was when I saw Hearts in a live game for the first time. In the programme they covered that season and the crowd for the first game I was at, at Easter Road, was 21,395. Hearts lost 3-1 and Don Kerrigan was the first player I saw scoring for Hearts.  Walked down to Tynecastle and got to my seat around 7.20. Heart made three changes from Saturday. Jamie Walker came in for the suspended Harry Cochrane, Jamie Brandon replaced the injured Michael Smith at full-back and Isma came in for Anthony McDonald up front. When the team lined up it appeared Kyle Lafferty was playing wide right, Jamie Walker in the number 10 role and Isma at centre forward. The first major incident in the game occurred in seven minutes when Hibs Martin Boyle crossed a low ball into the Hearts box which Oli Shaw hammered off the crossbar. From where

Despite last week's euphoria I could not face going to Perth to watch Hearts against St Johnstone as I had a feeling it would be an anti-climax. Instead I went to see Spartans against Gala Fairydean Rovers in the Lowland League. Left home about 13.35 and walked to Ainslie Park arriving around 14.20. As it was blowing a gale I headed for the cafe/bar for a coffee and a sausage roll.  The Gala side was formed in 2013 following a merger between the semi-professional Gala Fairydean and amateur side Gala Rovers. They play at Netherdale which is adjacent to the Gala Rugby Clubs ground of the same name. I can vaguely remember in the 1970's travelling down to Gala on a Sunday by bus to watch Hearts play in a testimonial at the footballing Netherdale against the Fairydean side. Must be getting old as I cannot remember the score although I am positive Hearts won. Rovers have a couple of Hibs under-20s on loan including Jamie Gullan. He was brought up in Buckstone and his parents

Having missed the Dundee game due to illness and then with no games on Saturday due to frozen pitches in the Edinburgh area I was looking forward to this one. Walked to Tynecastle and arrived around 12.00 for the 12.30 kick-off as game was live on Sky. Hearts had what looked like a weakened team out with Jamie Walker and Arnaud Djoum injured and John Souttar suspended. Micheal Smith moved into central defence to replace Souttar with David Milinkovic and Harry Cochrane coming in to midfield. From the side on Tuesday team Ross Callachan replaced Anthony McDonald.  Celtic were on a 69 game unbeaten run against Scottish opposition since Brendan Rodgers took over as manager. I heard later that Sky pundit Kris Commons, an ex-Cetic player, had suggested Celtic would win 5-0. Well he was proved wrong in spectacular fashion. From the start Hearts took the game to Celtic and harried them all over the park when Celtic had possession. The Celtic central defence did not look comfortable agai

Walked down to Tynecastle today for the visit of Motherwell.  Kyle Lafferty returned to the starting line-up after two matches on the bench, while there were also places for Connor Randall, Don Cowie and Lewis Moore. There was also good news in that Motherwell were unable to field top  scorer Lewis Moult due to injury. Since the game I have heard he is moving to Preston when the transfer window opens. I don't really like games against Motherwell, probably harking back to Texaco Cup games where violence was a regular occurrence on the terraces. This game confirmed my prejudice as both teams huffed and puffed without a great deal of creativity in evidence. Hearts style was not helped as both Jame Walker and Arnaud Djoum had to leave the field due to injury. David Milinkovic replaced Walker early in the game but he has a more direct style with his game being based on pace. In the second half Ross Callachan replaced Djoum but he is more of an attacking midfielder than a creator

I thought really hard about this one before publishing. I had a good morning taking Harper to see Paddington 2 and then after lunch headed to Tynecastle. I walked there and arrived about 14.20 to find everyone standing outside and turnstiles locked. It turned out there had been a fire alarm about 14.00 and ground had been evacuated. Turnstiles were opened about 2.30 and kickoff delayed till 15.15. Hearts made two changes from last week. John Souttar returned after concussion to replace Aaron Hughes and Prince Bauben replaced the injured Harry Cochrane in midfield. The match started well and David Milinkovic had an early run down the wing beating three defenders and putting a good low cross into the penalty box. No Hearts striker came to the near post and the ball was cleared by thee Hamilton defence. After that the game went downhill from a Hearts viewpoint as while they had a lot of possession they were unable to create any clear chances with attempts on goal being limited to