23rd July 2022 Hearts 2 Stoke City 1

 

The final pre-season game today was a friendly against Stoke City as a testimonial match for long-serving Jambo Gary Locke. Bonnyrigg born and bred, Locke joined Hearts in 1992 and played for the side in midfield or fullback until he moved to Bradford City along with manager Jim Jeffries. Following his playing career ending he returned to Hearts in 2010 as first team coach, again with Jim Jeffries as manager. Locke then took over as manager in January 2013 before Hearts went into administration. for season 2013/14 Hearts had a fifteen point deduction and faced an almost impossible task to avoid relegation. With senior players having departed Locke was forced to field a very long side and despite a brave fight relation wa confirmed. New owner Ann Budge relieved Locke of his managerial post at the end of the season. After a brief managerial career at other clubs Locke returned to Hearts in 2018 as an ambassador, acting as liaison between the club and the fans, and has been a great success in that role since then. 

To be honest Stoke were not the most attractive position but I want to be there to pay tribute to a Hearts legend. season tickets were not valid and I purchased a ticket online, managing to get my season ticket seat in the Main Stand. Originally only the Main Stand was to be open but depend meant the Gorgie Stand had also to be opened with a small section in the Roseburn Stand available for Stoke fans. I left home around 13.45 and took a walk along the canal before heading to Tynecatle arriving around 14.20. A new entry system had been installed at Tynecastle with QR code readers being used to scan tickets but it worked ell and I was in my seat within minutes. The teams were warming up as I waited for the kick-off.

Hearts have played a number of pre-season games with only one defeat by Preston North End in mid-week. New Australian centre-back Kye Rowles played his first match at Preston and was making his home debut today. Rowles is an Australian international and played in their recent World Cup qualifying ties against Peru. Australia's victory means that Rowles should be in their squad for the finals in Qatar later this year. Hearts also believe fellow Australian players Nate Atkinson and Sammy Devin will be in the squad. Also making his Hearts debut today was striker Lawrence Shankland, signed from Beerschot. who were relegated to the belgian League Two at the end of last season, in mid-week. Shankland, a Scottish international was a prolific scorer for both Ayr United and Dundee United before moving to Belgium for £1M. Things did not work for him in Belgium and he has returned to Scotland for what is believed to be  a six figure. Hearts have lack a prolific scorer for a number of years and it is hoped Shankland will fill this gap. Hearts however lost Aaron McEneff last week as the midfielder moved to Australian side Perth Glory for an undisclosed fee as he was looking for increased game time. Stoke were unfamiliar to me and I only recognised two names in the side, centre-back Phil Jagielka, an England international and striker Jacob Brown who has a couple of caps for Scotland. 

The match started slowly with Hearts trying to play a passing game while Stoke, managed by former Hibs player and Northern Ireland manager Michael O’Neill played a more physical long ball style. The first shot at goal did not come until eleven minutes when Alan Forrest shoe past the post from twenty-five yards after a corner was cleared out of the Stoke box straight to the Hearts man. Hearts were unlucky after eighteen minutes when Stephen Kingsley headed an Alex Cochrane corner against the Stoke cross-bar. Brown of Stoke missed two good chances, firstly heading wide from a right wing cross and then shooting over the bar after a poor kick-out from Craig Gordon was intercepted and crossed into the box. Hearts came back into the game and took the lead in fort-three minutes. Nate Atkinson chased a long ball down the right and got a break when it stayed in play after rebounding of the corner flag. The full-back took the ball into the penalty box and cut it back from the byeline to Forrest. His cross-shot was deflected into the Stoke net by Shankland from about eight yards for his first Hearts goal.

Surprisingly neither side made any substitutions at halftime and the game continued much as in the first half with neither side troubling the opposing gal-keeper. The first changes were made around the hour mark with Hearts bringing on Liam Boyce and Jorge Grant while Stoke brought on new signings Will Smallbone (on loan from Southampton) and Dwight Gayle(signed from Newcastle). Gayle had a chance after sixty-eight minutes but turned a Harry Clarke cut-back past the far post in a rare Stoke attack. The best chance for Stoke came after seventy-five minutes when a poor pass from Atkinson allowed Stoke to play Josh Tyson in behind the Hearts defence. Crag Gordon rushed from his line and blocked the shot with his legs to a chorus of "Scotlands No.1". Shankland was denied by the legs of Stoke keeper Josef Bursik and then substitute Gary Mackay-Steven forced his way into penalty area but his shot was palmed away by the Stoke keeper. Hearts grabbed a second goal in eighty-nine minutes when Boyce fed the ball to Finlay Pollock on the right. The substitute forced his way past a defender on the bye-line and cut the ball back to Shankland about eight yards from goal. The strikers first attempt was blocked by Bursik but bounced back to him. Shankland made no mistake with his second attempt firing across goal into the far corner of the net. We were then entertained by an unhappy Stoke fan leaving his seat and gesticulating at the Hears fans from the passageway in front of the Roseburn stand seats. The stewards suggested he left the ground which he did by going down one passageway and re-appearing through the next exit to repeat his performance. Sioke pulled a goal back with a minute to go when a break down the left lead to a  low ball into the box for Tyrese Campbell to score from close range. 

After the final whistle I walked home quite happy with the Hearts performance. It was also good to see Shankland scoring, albeit in a friendly. Hearts have not had a "natural" goalscorer since John Roberson in the 1980s and 1990s and hopefully Shankland will prove to be the answer to this long-standing issue. The Hearts squad looks stronger than last season and I am looking forward to the season proper starting next weekend.

Teams

Hearts: Gordon, M. Smith, Kingsley, Halkett, Haring, Shankland, Atkinson, Rowles, Forrest, McKay, Cochrane. 

Subs: Grant, Boyce, Halliday, Sibbick, Mackay-Steven, Pollock

Stoke City: Bursik, Clarke, Jagielka, Baker, Brown, Campbell, Tymon, Wilmot, Kilkenny, Laurent, Taylor. 

Subs: Smallbone, Gayle, Clucas