Another home game. After a busy morning with Harper left for Tynecastle ar 14.10. Today was the Foundation Day at Tynecstle with the official opening of Foundation Plaza and a group photo was to be taken of fans with the new Foundation of Hearts scarfs. I decided however to watch Peterborough v Leicester on TV and missed the festivities. The transfer window is still open and it has been a busy time at Hearts with Danny Amankwaa signed from FC Copenhagen. On the exit side Cole Stockton has moved to Carlisle, Isma to Pakhtakor Tashken in Uzbekistan and it looks like Kristian Nowak is going to Greek side, Panionios. Also just heard that Ashley Smith-Brown's loan has been recalled by Manchester City and he has been sent out on loan to Oxford United. Despite the moves Hearts fielded a strong side although Kyle Lafferty was still missing due to suspension. Hearts started the game well and Ross Callachan came close to opening the scoring when he shot the post after a cross from t

A disappointing day yesterday, was set to go to Whitehill Welfare but Twitter on Friday night showed pitch was covered in snow. Then thought about Penicuik but again pitch covered in snow. Finally looked at Edinburgh University v BSC Glasgow but again game as called  off. Found out later Bonnyrigg was on but too late to go to game. However cannot wait for game today. Another cup tie against Hibs. Left house at 1.15 for 2.05 kick-off in driving snow to walk to Tynecastle. Hearts had two new players in the side, Demetri Mitchell, a left back on loan from Manchester United, and Steven Naismith, the Scotland striker on loan from Norwich. Players have also left during the current transfer window, Jamie Walker to Wigan, Marc Leonard to Brighton and Rafal Grzelak whose contract was cancelled by mutual consent. The atmosphere at Tynecasle was brilliant as team came out with Hearts looking to extending clean sheet record to seven games and Hibs looking for ten undefeated derbies in a row

With the SPL still on mid-winter break and Hearts off to a training camp in Valencia I decided to head to watch Edinburgh City rather than go to Civil Service Strollers or Edinburgh University. City had now risen to eighth in League 2 following their victory over Cowdenbeath last week although they faced a tough task against league leaders Montrose who had already beaten them twice this season. As usual I walked to Ainslie Park and arrived about 14.40. As I stood at the fence drinking my coffee I met Alex. He had been intending to go to Inverness to watch his team Queen of the South against Inverness Caledonian Thistle. However when he was heading to station to catch his early train he felt unwell and returned home to bed. On getting up around mid-day he felt a bit better and decided to head for Ainslie Park. Unusually the game was refereed by a woman, Lorraine Watson. She had refereed some League 2 matches before but this was the first time I had seen a woman referee a profes

With SPL on mid-winter break decided to go to Ainslie Park for the North Edinburgh Derby, Spartans  v Civil Service Strollers (CSS). I had been to previous league match between the sides where Spartans won 2-1 and anther tight contest was anticipated. As usual walked to Ainslie Park, arriving at around 14.40 for a warming cup of coffee. Spartans had a strange line-up with top scorers Ross Allum and Blair Atkinson both on the bench. As is normal with Spartans shirt numbers had little reference to position with Michael Herd (2) playing in central midfield, Jack Nixon (4) at right back and Adam Corbett (10) at centre back. CSS had a numbers of Spartans connections including Andy Mair who joined them from Spartans early last year. The game kicked off with the view of the Ferry Road glow obscured by the glare from the setting sun. CSS had a early lucky escape when keeper Stuart Burnside let a free kick through his fingers and it fell at the feet of Scott Maxwell. The ball seemed

Saturday had been a no football day. I did not fancy the trip to Aberdeen for the Hearts game. However by drawing 0-0 Hearts set a new club record of six league games in a row without conceding a goal. I had thought about going to the Whitehall Welfare v Spartans game at Roswell but after seeing pictures of the pitch on Twitter the previous night suspected it would be unplayable and it was called off after a 9.30 inspection on the Saturday. Then I considered going to Edinburgh City v Clyde at Ainslie Park but that was called off due to a frozen pitch. The City Twitter account said - 'the pitch maintenance suppliers do not recommend putting salt down and the manual removal of ice and snow will result in the removal of rubber pellets and damage the integrity of the pitch fibres'. So much for plastic pitches meaning games will be played despite adverse weather conditions ! However there was a full programme of SPFL fixtures on 2nd January despite this no longer being a Ban