7th April 2018 Hearts v Aberdeen 2-0

 

At last another match at Tynecastle. After spending the morning watching Peter Rabbit with Harper headed to Tynecastle after watching a disappointing Merseyside derby on Sky. Arrived about twenty minutes before the kick-off and headed to my seat in the main stand. Hearts should be thinking about naming this new stand and I would name it after either Dave Mackay or Tommy Walker, two Hearts legends who, unfortunately, I never saw playing for the side.

Hearts made a couple of changes from last weeks draw at Dundee, bringing in Michael Smith and David Milinkovic for Jaoquim Adao and Ross Callachan. I was a bit surprised about Callachan dropping to the bench after his goal last week, but in the absence of the injured Adao, Michael Smith was a good replacement as a defensive midfield player.

Aberdeen had an early chance when Scott McKenna hit the bar from a Niall McGinn freekick. McGinn had been a Hearts target in the summer but I don’t think he is as good a player as Milinkovic. After 18 minutes Hearts took the lead after some good inter passing between Marcus Godinho and Milinkovic on the left of the field. Milinkovic then passed the ball to Steven Naismith in the box who sidestepped a defender and fired the ball low into the net. Shortly after Joe Lewis in the Aberdeen goal mishit a clearance and left Hearts with a three on two opportunity, Kyle Lafferty's shot bounced of an Aberdeen defender to  Milinkovic. David shot home despite an Aberdeen defenders effort to clear of the line.

For the rest of the game Hearts were well in control with Christophe Berra and John Souttar outstanding in central defence. While I do not like the way Craig Levein sets up his teams not to lose rather than win these two must be best central defenders in Scotland. Souttar seems so much better after coming back from injury and playing alongside Berra and Aaron Hughes. How Scotland cannot choose these two in central defence is absolutely astonishing .Aberdeen had a late chance when Adam Rooney hit the bar from close range but throughout the game Jon McLaughlin was hardly troubled in the Hearts goal. Another good win and top six now assured..

Walked home to watch the Manchester Derby. Another good game although I have to admit to being surprised by Uniteds second half comeback. Still think City will clinch the league soon though.

Teams
Hearts: McLaughlin, Smith, Souttar, Berra, Lafferty, Milnikovic, Naismith, Cowie, Randall, Godinho.
Subs: Amankwaa, Cochrane
Aberdeen: Lewis, Logan, Shinnie, Considine, O'Connor, McLean, Stewart, McGinn, McKenna, Christie, May. 
Subs: Arnason, Mackay-Steven, Rooney.

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