30th July 2022. Hearts 2 Ross County 1

 

At last the first competitive match for Hearts this season. Having qualified to play in Europe this season Hearts did not have to play in the qualifying groups in the Premier Sports Cup, or League Cup as I still call it, this season. They have looked to gain match fitness through a series of friendly matches but todays match will be the first real test for the revised squad. My programme had arrived the previous day on subscription and was a tribute to Drew Busby who died recently. Busby joined Hearts from Airdrie in 1973 for a fee of £30,000 and was one of my favourite players of that era. Initially a striker before moving back into midfield He was a whole hearted player who always gave 100% in what was not one of the best periods in Hearts history. While not the tallest of players he was good in he air and also had a strong shot. He was Hearts penalty taker at the time and I can only recall him missing one, in a League Cup penalty shootout against Dundee United. He was also fully committed on the field and a strong tackler although referees did not always agree and he was sent off three times when with Hearts. Most famously he fouled Hibs Arthur Duncan in an East of Scotland Shield final and walked off the field as Duncan was carried off on a stretcher. RIP Drew a Hearts legend. I decided to go for a short walking before heading to Tynecastle and left home at 13.40 to walk along the canal bank for some exercise. I came off the canal at Shannon to walk down to Tynecastle at 14.20. As there was only a short queue at the ticket office I went there first to collect my ticket for the Edinburgh Derby at Easter Road next week. Tacter that I head tot the entrance turnstiles. The entry system has been redesigned with a QR code on season tickets which is read by a scanner before allowing entry via the turnstiles. This was the first ‘live’ test of the system and thankfully it worked well with no delays on entering the ground. I got to my seat just after 14.30 to watch the sides warming up. 

Hearts made one change from the starting line-up against Stoke City last weekend with Toby Sibbick coming into the back three, replacing Stephen Kingsley who was out with a hamstring problem. Personally I would have liked to have seen Liam Boyce starting in a number 10 role behind Lawrence Shankland up front. Ross County under manager Malky Mackay, a former Celtic player, finished sixth in the SPL last season. They lost top scorer Regan Charles-Cook who signed for Belgian side Eupen but Mackay having managed both Cardiff and Wigan has a number of connections in England. Mackay's contacts have helped him sign a number of new players to strengthen his squad for the forthcoming season including Ben Purrington (Charlton), Ben Chanda (Swansea), Owura Edwards (Bristol City loan) and Kazeem Olaigbe (Southampton loan). The County side also included two former Hearts players in Connor Randall and Ross Callachan.

The game itself was a bit of a disaster with Hearts, particularly in the first half being the defence in particular being far from their best form.  They seemed to be disjointed with Edwards giving Toby Sibbick and Nate Atkinson a herd time attacking down the Hearts right. County started the game well and after 23 minutes winger Edwards crossed for Samuel. His header rebounded off the post and Dom Simms could not convert the rebound as Craig Gordon dived across his  goal to scramble the ball away. Edwards then cut inside past Nate Atkinson and his shot cannoned of the crossbar. Atkinson was then substituted after an injury with Jorge Grant coming on in midfield with Michal Smith moving back to his favoured right back position. While this move strengthened the Hearts defence Gordon still had to punch away an effort by Jordy Hiwula after  a deflection off Craig Halkett.  Hearts improved as the halftime break approached with Smith being unable to reach a cross from McKay in the penalty area and Alan Forrest forcing save from County keeper Ross Laidlaw after a weak shot from outside the penalty area. 

The second half had to be an improvement from Hearts and thankfully it was. Forrest came more into the game and after fifty three minutes he worked his way into the box before his shot was knocked away from the goal line by Randall with Laidlaw beaten. Minutes later Hearts went ahead and Forrest was again involved. He fed Grant on the edge of the penalty area and continue his run into the box towards six yard line. Grant passed to overlapping Alex Cochrane who fired a low cross into the area for the onrushing Forrest to flick the ball into the net. Hearts continued to have most of the play and scored a second after seventy-seven minutes. Cochrane sent a long ball forward and Barry McKay controlled the ball coming over his head with a fantastic first touch which took him away from two County defenders. He then flicked the ball past a third defender and goalkeeper Laidlaw before firing it into the net for a 2-0 lead for Hearts. hearts then brought on Halliday and Devlin for Forrest and McKay and seemed to go to sleep on the restart. County substitute Jordan White ran onto a long through ball missed by Kye Rowles and beat Gordon with a  low shot from jut inside the penalty area. I do not like to be critical of Gordon but I thought he could have been off his line quicker to give White a smaller target. Despite this scare Hearts held out for a good start to the SPL campaign.

I walked home happy after a initial SPL win although I though Hearts had been awful in the first half maybe due to a lack of competitive matches. Nevertheless it was a competent performance and three points before next weeks Edinburgh derby.

Teams

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

Subs: Grant, Boyce, Halliday, Devlin

 
Ross County: Laidlaw, Randall, Purrington, Baldwin, Iacovitti, Edwards-Owura, Callachan, Samuel, Sims, Mayifuila, Tillson. 

Subs: Oliagbe, Dhanda, White, Johnson.