HE CAME out with some codswallop about a "virus" afflicting Scottish football in the wake of his club's cup win over Celtic in midweek.
And yesterday, Hearts owner Vladimir Romanov would have had his suspicions confirmed had he bothered to watch his team at Fir Park. For Motherwell were all over Hearts like a rash in a game that should have produced the sort of one-sided defeat to br
ing Csaba Laszlo out in hives.
The Tynecastle manager despaired at the reverse a ripping hit from Ross Forbes in the 55th minute brought his team. Yet, despite the obligatory late flurry, a single-goal defeat that leaves Hearts with only two wins from ten SPL games was a good outcome for them.
Indeed, the Edinburgh club seemed to have more about their play after the triple blow of conceding a goal, having Christian Nade stretchered off and then, 19 minutes from time, seeing Eggert Jonsson dismissed for tugging back Jim O'Brien, who had eaten up the ground on him from a kick-out by John Ruddy.
The on-loan Everton keeper played despite tweaking ligaments in the warm-up, but against a Gorgie side missing the injured Michael Stewart and Suso Santana, he did not need to stretch himself until making a fine save from Gary Glen in the 94th minute. Had Motherwell been pegged back then it would have been a terrible injustice since they were constantly on the front foot and made chances that should have had Hearts on the wrong end of a scoreline that would have pushed them down to tenth in the SPL table. One more goal would have been enough, and Jim Gannon's side warranted that as they moved up to fourth.
It left Laszlo picking over well-worn themes. "If we win at Celtic Park we must have more confidence but we don't have that in the SPL at the moment," he said. "We must also talk about the strikers. What we have at the moment isn't enough. This is the reality. I'm not a dreamer. We have so many inexperienced players, we will have a lot of painful games. We're not dangerous and we don't score goals. This season will be really heavy for Hearts."
That doesn't explain away a defeat to a Motherwell side full of inexperienced players. Yesterday, the combined age of central defensive pairing Shaun Hutchison and Steven Saunders was 36. Gannon didn't go overboard but praised his players – who he admitted had got "caught up" in the talk of their good passing game over the past month – for being more direct against opponents for whom indirectness is a depressing flaw.
Indeed, there was chances-there-if-you-want-them feel to the cut and thrust of an engaging first half and Motherwell wanted to conjure up these opportunities more – perhaps no surprise following their grim 3-0 defeat to St Mirren in midweek. The fact Hearts edged their way into the semi-finals of the Co-operative Insurance Cup at Celtic Park to ensure their most satisfying match of the season was supposed to have made them a team renewed. But Laszlo's men looked as lacking as they have for much of this campaign as they were gradually pushed back by a home side clearly stung by their Paisley pumping.
Yet, for all that the two teams have been written about as having wildly differing seasons, yesterday Hearts could have moved to within two points of Gannon's side.
However, Hearts, with Ian Black supporting Nade and David Obua and Andrew Driver too often seeming to drift out of areas where they could make a notable contribution, did their usual in proving too passive, too often.
That encouraged Motherwell to take on the role of aggressors, and they did so with oomph. The approach should have yielded more end-product, and referee David Somers seemed to have as much to do with the fact it did not as anyone in maroon. It seemed perplexing that Ismael Bouzid chopping down O'Brien in the box after 13 minutes did not result in a penalty. Post-match, however, O'Brien was honest enough to admit he felt that Bouzid had made contact with the ball.
Motherwell thereafter may have become a shade desperate to force the issue, with balls dropped into the box not given the treatment they deserved by John Sutton and Hutchison. Wasted chances do not come much better than what followed from an indirect free-kick eight yards out Janos Balogh conceded after daftly picking up a Jose Goncalves passback. Touched back to Ross Forbes by O'Brien, the ball was lashed wide by the full-back with the goal at his mercy.
He didn't make the same mistake twice, and therein lay the winning of the game. When Yassin Moutaouakil flighted a diagonal ball 60 yards from the right-back area, you wondered who he was aiming at. As Forbes powered in, that suddenly became clear. And as he smacked a first-time left-foot shot from eight yards out that skimmed under Balogh, what became equally clear is why he is the club's top scorer. The strike was his seventh of a season that continues to hold appeal for Motherwell. Progress in the Co-operative Insurance Cup apart, to Hearts it is starting to have all the attraction of a dose of the clap.
