26th June 2021 Linlithgow Rose 0 Hearts 6
Well, after 472 days I am finally going to a Hearts game today. However as with anything to do with Hearts is ever simple. Hearts reported back for training at the start of this week and the first friendly fixture was meant to be at Berwick on Friday night. However five members of Hearts playing staff required to self-isolate following positive Covid tests and the match was cancelled which also put todays match in doubt. A update was promised for this morning and finally at around 11.30 confirmation was received that the match was on. I had bought a ticket through Fanbase and also purchased return rail tickets for the 13.49 to Linlithgow from Haymarket. i walked down to Haymarket and arrived ten minutes early for my train. While I was waiting a police officer strolled along the platform and stopped to berate a young lad, maybe 18 years old, for not wearing a face mask. He was told he would not get on any train without wearing a mask which is one of the governments rule for travelling. While the officer was correct what were the police doing last week when thousands of Scotland Fans travelled to Wembley without wearing masks. Is it the case hat a lone individual is an easy target ? Anyway now my rant is now over My train arrived on time and I got off at Linlithgow station fourteen minutes after leaving Haymarket. The ground is around fifteen minutes walk from the station and I arrived around 14.20. Despite having bought a ticket online I still had to give details for 'track and test' and then have my temperature checked before entering the ground. I was standing opposite the main stand, which was closed for social distancing requirements, when I saw Pete, a former work colleague, and one of his sons standing behind the goal. I wandered over to join them and we stood together chatting throughout the match. I managed to get a team-sheet from a passing official who apologised for the quality of the print set-up. However the players with their numbers on the left were the starting line-ups for both sides.
Linlithgow were a successful junior side for many years but along with many others in the Junior leagues have now moved into the Senior Pyramid by joining the East of Scotland League. They are expected to replicate their success in the Juniors on the move but, although they finished third in the Premier division in last years truncated season, have as yet not been regarded as one of the sides likely to move up to the Lowland League. The Linlithgow side included several names I recognised from seeing them previously such as Gary Thom, Darren Brownlie and Will Hare. Also included in the Rose line was Tommy Coyne the son of the former Celtic and Republic of Ireland striker of the same name. Coyne junior has been with Linlithgow since 2009 and has scored over three hundred goals for the club. Despite now being thirty-four he would still be a danger to the Hearts defence. Hearts fielded a different side in each half of the match with both line-ups including a mix of experienced players and youngsters. It was surprising to see Loic Damour in the starting eleven given he had not played a competitive match since March 2020. One of the highest wage earners at Tynecastle, Damour had fallen out of favour with the management team and has been training with the youngsters. Given the Hearts side was been overseen by U18s coach John Rankin, in the absence of the first team management trio of Robbie Neilson, Lee McCulloch and Gordon Forrest, Damour may have impressed in these training sessions.
The game started with, as expected, Hearts having the bulk of the lay. There was an early chance when Connor Smith broke down the right and sent a low cross towards the edge of the six yard box. Liam Boyce went for the ball along with Linlithgow defender Gary Thom and the ball broke of the defender and hit the cross-bar. Hearts went ahead in thirteen minutes with an excellent goal from Finlay Pollock. He collected the ball on the left just outside the penalty box and broke past two defenders to curl a shot across keeper Lewis McMinn into the top corner of the net from about sixteen yards. Pollock made a couple of substitute appearances in the first team towards the end of last season and a continuance of this form could see him a regular in the squad. Minutes later Connor Smith again broke down the right and cut into the penalty box were he was taken down by a challenge from Cammy Thomson. It was a clear penalty and Liam Boyce dispatched the kick into the left hand corner of the net as McMinn dived the other way. In twenty-four minutes Boyce passed the ball across the box to Michael Smith about fifteen yards from goal on the right. The full-back fired a low shot into the net for a third goal. Boyce added a fourth after half an hour with another penalty after Gary Mackay-Steven was taken out by Arnie Kasa. This time Boyce put the ball into the right hand corner past the fingers of the diving McMinn. Harry Stone, making his first appearance as first team goal-keeper, had little to do until just before half-time. Thomson fired in a shot from the edge of the penalty area and Stone leapt to touch the ball over the bar. I was ready behind the goal to save the shot but the keepers touch deflected the ball yards away to my right for some else to retrieve the ball. Hearts left the field at half-time with a comfortable 4-0 lead but I was disappointed in Damour's performance. He never seemed to get into the game and gave away a couple of silly free-kicks. He limped off the field after receiving a knock in a tackle near half-time and did not return for the second half.
Damour was not the only change at half-time as Hearts sent out a completely different side for the second half. The team was again a mixture of experienced players and youngsters. The half began as the first half with Hearts doing all the pressing and a fifth goal arrived after forty-eight minutes. Jamie Walkers pass released fullback Macaulay Tait. He headed towards the byeline after a smart one/two with Ryan Schiavone on the edge of the penalty box. Tait then cut the ball back to the edge of the six yard box where Armand Gnanduillet slid the ball into the net. Hearts then seemed to take the poor of the pedal and were content to treating the remainder of the game as a training exercise. Substitute goalkeeper Liam McFarlane had only one save to make when he got down to save a half-hit shot from Linlithgow's Kyle Wilson while McMinn in the Linlithgow goal was busier he was generally cutting out crosses. Aaron McEneff limped off after he was caught in a collision with two Linlithgow players. I think the move was merely precautionary as he was replaced by Makenzie Kirk. Kirk is the son of former Hearts player, coach and assistant Manager Andy Kirk and like his father plays as a striker. Late in the game Sean Doherty was hurt in a tackle from Kasa. Walker ran across to remonstrate with the Rose plate and pushed him away. Kasa was booked for his challenge and Walker warned by the referee for his reaction. The Rose management team immediately substituted Kasa. With minutes to go Popescu hit a long ball into the Linlithgow penalty box. Kirk gathered the ball as the defence dithered, side-stepped a defender and shot into the left corner of the net for goal number six. Like father like son for goalscoring! The final whistle blew shortly afterwards to signal the end of the game. While the match was a training exercise for both sides it was good to see Hearts in action again. The younger players looked promising, albeit against lower league opposition, and hopefully we will see some of them in the SPL before long.
After the game I walked back to the station arriving there at 17.02. The next train to Haymarket was due at 17.15 and arrived on time. After the short journey I walk hone arriving about 17.40 after a good day out.
Teams
Hearts (second half): McFarlane, Tait, Docherty, Souttar, Popescu, McEneff, Walker, Schiavone, Gnanduillet, Henderson, Ginnelly
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