Scottish Cup day and a home tie against last weeks opponents St Johnstone. Last weeks game had been a poor Hearts performance despite a victory and todays encounter had to be an improvement. After watching the Spurs v Arsenal derby on Sky I walked down to Tynecastle and was in my seat around twenty minutes from the kick-off. Due to the cold weather I bought a coffee from the pie stand to help keep me warm. Hearts have been using programme covers based on movies this season. Today's programme featured David Milinkovic, based on Spike Jonze's 1999 movie Being John Malkovich, and for me was the best cover yet. Craig Levein made four changes to last weeks side bringing in Michael Smith, Aaron Hughes, Ross Callachan and Anthony McDonald. Connor Randall, Danny Amankwaa and David Milinkovic dropped to the bench while Steven Naismith missed to game due to a slight hamstring problem. Hearts went ahead in seven minutes when St Johnstone's Joe Shaughnessy decided to take a th...

I had sent a text to Alex earlier in the week to see if he was going to this game. He replied yes and that Jim was going along also. On the day of the match I had a text from Alex saying we must be mad as it was going to be a bitterly cold night. He was right ! Alex sends e-mails to Spartans after he has been to games as he likes to know the attendance. It turns out that the replies he had been getting were from Spartans chairman, Craig Graham. Craig had sent a text to Alex saying they should meet when he was next at a Spartans game and they arranged to meet tonight pre-match. I was going to walk to Ainslie Park but decided as it was not very warm I would walk part of the way then catch a bus. I met Alex in the carpark outside and once we got into the ground he disappeared to meet Craig while I went for a coffee. The cafe/bar was unavailable tonight due to a pre-booked private function so I had to go to the outside catering area. As I was drinking my coffee Jim arrived and we had a...

Prior to the game I sent a message to my ex-boss and good friend Archie, a fanatical St Johnstone fan asking is he was going to Tynecastle today. He responded ' No, not had all my jabs'. A bit much given Hearts fans risk getting foot and mouth or rabies going to farming country in Perth. Left house after watching Burnley v Manchester City and walked down to Tynecastle arriving about 14.45. Hearts had an attacking side out with two wingers Danny Amankwaa and David Milinkovic in the side. New signing Joaquim Adao also made his debut as midfield enforcer. I was looking forward to a good attacking performance from Hearts with a few goals but was sadly disappointed.  Early on Christophe Berra was penalised for a push on Chris Kane, and David Wotherspoon’s curling shot from 25-yard was turned past the post by Jon McLaughlin. Shortly after McLaughlin rushed off his line after Kane had beaten the offside trap to made a smart block with his body at the edge of the box after...

Another home game. After a busy morning with Harper left for Tynecastle ar 14.10. Today was the Foundation Day at Tynecstle with the official opening of Foundation Plaza and a group photo was to be taken of fans with the new Foundation of Hearts scarfs. I decided however to watch Peterborough v Leicester on TV and missed the festivities. The transfer window is still open and it has been a busy time at Hearts with Danny Amankwaa signed from FC Copenhagen. On the exit side Cole Stockton has moved to Carlisle, Isma to Pakhtakor Tashken in Uzbekistan and it looks like Kristian Nowak is going to Greek side, Panionios. Also just heard that Ashley Smith-Brown's loan has been recalled by Manchester City and he has been sent out on loan to Oxford United. Despite the moves Hearts fielded a strong side although Kyle Lafferty was still missing due to suspension. Hearts started the game well and Ross Callachan came close to opening the scoring when he shot the post after a cross from t...

A disappointing day yesterday, was set to go to Whitehill Welfare but Twitter on Friday night showed pitch was covered in snow. Then thought about Penicuik but again pitch covered in snow. Finally looked at Edinburgh University v BSC Glasgow but again game as called  off. Found out later Bonnyrigg was on but too late to go to game. However cannot wait for game today. Another cup tie against Hibs. Left house at 1.15 for 2.05 kick-off in driving snow to walk to Tynecastle. Hearts had two new players in the side, Demetri Mitchell, a left back on loan from Manchester United, and Steven Naismith, the Scotland striker on loan from Norwich. Players have also left during the current transfer window, Jamie Walker to Wigan, Marc Leonard to Brighton and Rafal Grzelak whose contract was cancelled by mutual consent. The atmosphere at Tynecasle was brilliant as team came out with Hearts looking to extending clean sheet record to seven games and Hibs looking for ten undefeated derbies in a...

With the SPL still on mid-winter break and Hearts off to a training camp in Valencia I decided to head to watch Edinburgh City rather than go to Civil Service Strollers or Edinburgh University. City had now risen to eighth in League 2 following their victory over Cowdenbeath last week although they faced a tough task against league leaders Montrose who had already beaten them twice this season. As usual I walked to Ainslie Park and arrived about 14.40. As I stood at the fence drinking my coffee I met Alex. He had been intending to go to Inverness to watch his team Queen of the South against Inverness Caledonian Thistle. However when he was heading to station to catch his early train he felt unwell and returned home to bed. On getting up around mid-day he felt a bit better and decided to head for Ainslie Park. Unusually the game was refereed by a woman, Lorraine Watson. She had refereed some League 2 matches before but this was the first time I had seen a woman referee a profes...

With SPL on mid-winter break decided to go to Ainslie Park for the North Edinburgh Derby, Spartans  v Civil Service Strollers (CSS). I had been to previous league match between the sides where Spartans won 2-1 and anther tight contest was anticipated. As usual walked to Ainslie Park, arriving at around 14.40 for a warming cup of coffee. Spartans had a strange line-up with top scorers Ross Allum and Blair Atkinson both on the bench. As is normal with Spartans shirt numbers had little reference to position with Michael Herd (2) playing in central midfield, Jack Nixon (4) at right back and Adam Corbett (10) at centre back. CSS had a numbers of Spartans connections including Andy Mair who joined them from Spartans early last year. The game kicked off with the view of the Ferry Road glow obscured by the glare from the setting sun. CSS had a early lucky escape when keeper Stuart Burnside let a free kick through his fingers and it fell at the feet of Scott Maxwell. The ba...