3rd November 2019 Hearts v Rangers 0-3
Betfred Cup semi-final day and while I did not hold out much hope of victory I decided to go having paid £30 for a ticket. After a brunch of a bacon roll and a square sausage roll I walked down to Haymarket around 11.30. Bought a ticket to Mount Florida and managed to catch the 11.34 express to Glasgow Queen Street. Thankfully the train had eight carriages and I was able to get a seat although there were a number of people forced to stand in the aisles. Train arrived in Glasgow about 12.15 and I headed for Central Station to continue on to Mount Florida. As I was early I decided to have a walk round central Glasgow before entering the station. When I entered the station I just missed the 13.01 direct to Mount Florida with the next direct train due at 13.16. However there was a train to Newton at 13.08 which passed through Mount Florida so I got that arriving at Mount Florida just before 13.30. As the Hearts fans section was at the other end off the ground I walked from the station and then passed the ground to reach the Hearts side. I was not keen on walking back past the Rangers fans exiting the ground after the game so I checked out the route to Kings Park station before entering the ground as trains go there before arriving at Mount Florida. Paid £5 for a programme before entering the ground and finding my seat which was in the top part of section I in the South Stand with a good view down the pitch. It turned out I was in the same row as Roddy, another former work colleague, and his wife and I had a chat with them when they arrived.
Austin McPhee made his first team selection in this spell as interim manager. Glenn Whelan, Ryotaro Meshino and Craig Wighton came into the side with Andy Irving and Ache Ikpeazu dropping to the bench and Loic Damour omitted from the squad. The selection of Wighton was for me surprising for two reasons. Firstly he has not been a regular or scored a goal since he signed from Dundee last season and has only just returned from injury to make his first start of the season today. Secondly he replaced Uche Ikpeazu who terrorised the Rangers defence in the recent league encounter with Rangers. Their manager Steven Gerrard admitted after the game that the big striker had been a handful for his defence. Ikpeazu was joined on the bench by Jamie Walker and Steven Naismith who were both returning after long injury absences. It cannot be often that a side has their three best attacking players on the bench in a cup semi-final. The Rangers side included seven million pound signing Ryan Kent alongside their top scorer Alfredo Morelos.
When Hearts drew with Rangers in the league they adopted a pressing style and never gave Rangers time to settle on the ball. The tactics today seemed to be to let Rangers come at them and looked to stop them nearer to the Hearts goal. After seventeen minutes Michael Smith did well to get to a James Tavernier cross and clear the danger before the ball could reach Morelos. Ryan Jack then had a shot pushed away by Joel Periera in the Hearts goal with Hearts, while looking comfortable on the ball, unable to test Alan McGregor in the Rangers goal. After twenty-seven minutes Hearts lost Glenn Whelan who limped off with a recurrence of his hamstring problem. Andy Irving came on as his replacement but Hearts missed Whelan’s composure and passing ability in midfield. Steven MacLean had been booked for an elbow in an high challenge with Connor Goldson before he was warned by referee John Beaton after he slid in on keeper McGregor in an attempt to win the ball. McPhee acted quickly and brought on Ikpeazu to replace the striker to prevent any red card given after what looked to be the strikers final warning. Kent then hit the outside of Periera’s post with a shot from about twenty yards but Hearts held out until the fourth official raised the board showing an additional two minutes to play in the first half. Following a corner Morelos crossed the ball low back into the penalty box from wide on the right. Centre half Helander was left unmarked as he ran forward to score from about ten yards. I did think the scorer was offside at first but the television replay on the concourse at halftime showed this was clearly not the case.
To have any chance of a result Hearts needed to get the next goal as the second half started. Unfortunately Rangers scored after two minutes. A corner fell to Tavernier beyond the far post nd he passed back across goal for Morelos to net. Hearts then made an effort to get forward and forced a couple of corners. Ikpeazu and Wighton both came close with headers before further disaster for Hearts. Michael Smith who had been playing well in central defence was forced to leave the field after picking up a knock in the first half. He was replaced by Steven Naismith but this resulted in a reshuffle in the Hearts defence with Aaron Hickey moving to centre half alongside Christopher Berra and Sean Clare moving back to right-back which is far from his preferred role in the team. Periera made a good save from Ryan Jack before Kent exploited Clare’s weakness as a defender. Kent made his way down the left and his cross was controlled by Morelos and fired into the net to give Rangers an unassailable lead. Morelos had the ball in the net again minutes later but the assistant referee had his flag raised for offside. Ikpeazu appealed for a penalty when he went down in the box after a challenge from Barisic but the referee waved his claim away. Naismith and Jack were then booked after a flare-up following a tackle by Naismith. The game was now dead with Rangers coasting and I gave up in disgust and left with ten minutes to go.
When I arrived at Kings Park station the platform was full of unhappy Hearts fans. A train back to Glasgow Central arrived at 16.49 and we piled into the carriages. On arriving at Mount Florida the platform was full of Rangers fans who also boarded the train. The train was packed but still stopped at three more stations down the line although no-one was getting off and there was no room for anyone to get on. On arriving at Central I hurried up the road to Queen Street and managed to catch the 17.30 back to Edinburgh arriving home, after walking from Haymarket, at 18.30.
Austin McPhee made his first team selection in this spell as interim manager. Glenn Whelan, Ryotaro Meshino and Craig Wighton came into the side with Andy Irving and Ache Ikpeazu dropping to the bench and Loic Damour omitted from the squad. The selection of Wighton was for me surprising for two reasons. Firstly he has not been a regular or scored a goal since he signed from Dundee last season and has only just returned from injury to make his first start of the season today. Secondly he replaced Uche Ikpeazu who terrorised the Rangers defence in the recent league encounter with Rangers. Their manager Steven Gerrard admitted after the game that the big striker had been a handful for his defence. Ikpeazu was joined on the bench by Jamie Walker and Steven Naismith who were both returning after long injury absences. It cannot be often that a side has their three best attacking players on the bench in a cup semi-final. The Rangers side included seven million pound signing Ryan Kent alongside their top scorer Alfredo Morelos.
When Hearts drew with Rangers in the league they adopted a pressing style and never gave Rangers time to settle on the ball. The tactics today seemed to be to let Rangers come at them and looked to stop them nearer to the Hearts goal. After seventeen minutes Michael Smith did well to get to a James Tavernier cross and clear the danger before the ball could reach Morelos. Ryan Jack then had a shot pushed away by Joel Periera in the Hearts goal with Hearts, while looking comfortable on the ball, unable to test Alan McGregor in the Rangers goal. After twenty-seven minutes Hearts lost Glenn Whelan who limped off with a recurrence of his hamstring problem. Andy Irving came on as his replacement but Hearts missed Whelan’s composure and passing ability in midfield. Steven MacLean had been booked for an elbow in an high challenge with Connor Goldson before he was warned by referee John Beaton after he slid in on keeper McGregor in an attempt to win the ball. McPhee acted quickly and brought on Ikpeazu to replace the striker to prevent any red card given after what looked to be the strikers final warning. Kent then hit the outside of Periera’s post with a shot from about twenty yards but Hearts held out until the fourth official raised the board showing an additional two minutes to play in the first half. Following a corner Morelos crossed the ball low back into the penalty box from wide on the right. Centre half Helander was left unmarked as he ran forward to score from about ten yards. I did think the scorer was offside at first but the television replay on the concourse at halftime showed this was clearly not the case.
To have any chance of a result Hearts needed to get the next goal as the second half started. Unfortunately Rangers scored after two minutes. A corner fell to Tavernier beyond the far post nd he passed back across goal for Morelos to net. Hearts then made an effort to get forward and forced a couple of corners. Ikpeazu and Wighton both came close with headers before further disaster for Hearts. Michael Smith who had been playing well in central defence was forced to leave the field after picking up a knock in the first half. He was replaced by Steven Naismith but this resulted in a reshuffle in the Hearts defence with Aaron Hickey moving to centre half alongside Christopher Berra and Sean Clare moving back to right-back which is far from his preferred role in the team. Periera made a good save from Ryan Jack before Kent exploited Clare’s weakness as a defender. Kent made his way down the left and his cross was controlled by Morelos and fired into the net to give Rangers an unassailable lead. Morelos had the ball in the net again minutes later but the assistant referee had his flag raised for offside. Ikpeazu appealed for a penalty when he went down in the box after a challenge from Barisic but the referee waved his claim away. Naismith and Jack were then booked after a flare-up following a tackle by Naismith. The game was now dead with Rangers coasting and I gave up in disgust and left with ten minutes to go.
When I arrived at Kings Park station the platform was full of unhappy Hearts fans. A train back to Glasgow Central arrived at 16.49 and we piled into the carriages. On arriving at Mount Florida the platform was full of Rangers fans who also boarded the train. The train was packed but still stopped at three more stations down the line although no-one was getting off and there was no room for anyone to get on. On arriving at Central I hurried up the road to Queen Street and managed to catch the 17.30 back to Edinburgh arriving home, after walking from Haymarket, at 18.30.
Reflecting on the game I think that the team set-up was wrong as a side should not be set up to contain the opposition when a cup-tie needs to be won. I also think that if Naismith, Ikpeazu and Walker were fit at least two of the trio should have started the game to give Hearts a credible attacking outlet. While the substitution options were limited after losing Whelan and Smith to injury I thought that defender Jamie Brandon should have come on for Smith to minimise the disruption that occurred buy bringing on Naismith. On the bright side had Hearts won the game I would have missed the final as we will be landed in Cape Verde as the game kicks off. Every cloud has a silver lining !
Teams
Rangers: McGregor, Tavernier, Helander, Goldson, Jack, Davis, Ojo, Kent, Kamara, Morelos, Barisic.
Subs: Aribo, Anfield, Kent.
Hearts: Pereira, Smith, White, Berra, Bozanic, Clare, Whelan, Wighton, MacLean, Hickey, Meshino.
Subs: irving, Ikpeazu, Naismith
Teams
Rangers: McGregor, Tavernier, Helander, Goldson, Jack, Davis, Ojo, Kent, Kamara, Morelos, Barisic.
Subs: Aribo, Anfield, Kent.
Hearts: Pereira, Smith, White, Berra, Bozanic, Clare, Whelan, Wighton, MacLean, Hickey, Meshino.
Subs: irving, Ikpeazu, Naismith
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