Always Hearts

Alloa played some really good stuff in the first half. Probably a better footballing side than Hibs to be fair. Hearts are so frustrating. Very good in the second half but don’t do it often enough. Excellent performances by Haring, Henderson, McEneff and Boyce.

For the sake of my eyeballs, I hope Queens don’t park the bus. We have a severely weakened defence so hopefully Queens come and have a go and we can all enjoy an open match. A real boost for Hearts that Boyce is available as we really don’t have any decent back up for him. He’ll no doubt get injured against Brora now that I’ve said that!

I agree to some extent but feel Hearts are nowhere near as bad as some on here would state. We deservedly beat Hibs and should have beaten Celtic in the Scottish Cup final. We actually look good when teams don’t park the bus. That has happened a lot against us both home and away in the Championship this season. As you say, we have a financial advantage, so don’t blame teams for doing that at all. However, it does make it hard for Hearts to play free flowing football. However, Hearts are the best team in the league by a significant margin as the league table shows. By the way, I never thought Arbroath remotely parked the bus today.

Neilson also said this: “You have to give credit to Arbroath, they’re a very good team. They have one of the best home records in Scotland” Unfortunately, the BBC only posted the bit that sounded bad. I’m glad he actually did give Arbroath credit.

That’s just Robbie building the barricades early as he knows he’ll be under attack from the Hearts support for another poor performance. I wish he’d just give Arbroath credit and stop making excuses.

More like a couple of minutes. Talk about exaggerating to try and make a point!

I don’t think any Hearts fans would honestly disagree with any of that. Arbroath have impressed me all things considered - I’m pretty sure you’ll still be a championship club next season. You look up for a fight.

Good performance by Arbroath. From a Hearts perspective, it’s hard to take any positives other than the point and it’s one less game until the end.

Mother of God!

It was a really tough match up at Gayfield the last time and I expect this to be similar. Arbroath are a very decent team at home. Actually a very impressive outfit considering they are part-time. Dick Campbell seems to be doing a decent job there and I expect, and hope, they stay up. Hearts need to begin starting quicker in matches - be great to come out of the blocks flying for once. We often seem to look like a far better team in the last 20 minutes than the first 20 - often coinciding with Jamie Walker coming on as a sub. I’d take any win - I’ll guess at a 2-1 Hearts win with a double from Boyce.

Not a classic by any means. The first half was largely like watching a training exercise where one team is instructed to sit in deep and the other to pass it side to side to open up passing channels. If this was an exercise then you would have complimented Ayr for a professional job - kept chances against to a minimum whilst looking menacing on the break. Hearts needed to zip the ball around quicker and up the tempo but never got going at all. I thought Hearts definitely found more penetrating forward passes throughout the second half, and when Walker came on the whole team seemed to get a lift. It’s hard both mentally and physically to be under the cosh like Ayr were for long spells and it always felt to me that Hearts would score eventually in the second half. A strange game in the sense that it was hard to get remotely enthused by the Hearts performance and yet it was only a mixture of poor finishing and good goalkeeping that kept the score down to two. From a Hearts perspective, a job done against well drilled opponents who tired in the second half. From an outsider looking at Ayr, I think they definitely have some talented players, a good work ethic and a good keeper. No reason to believe they won’t climb the table once the new manager has settled in. Probably just need to work on that cutting edge a little bit. Definitely things for both teams to improve upon for their next matches.

That was typical! it’s usually perfect and then I open my mouth about it being good. Apologies to everyone! Absolutely jinxed it.

It is, in my opinion, better than other teams coverage simply as you have 3 camera angles compared to one and I assume a higher up viewpoint. If it’s £4.50 better is a debate though. Anyway, to the match. Same Hearts team as last week. I’d like to have seen Walker start.

I agree - it’s far too much!

Opinions eh! I think the bare minimum is having one camera position and no replays like other teams in the league. Commentators are always subjective but I personally like them.

You are entitled to do whatever you wish with your pennies. Hope you find a good stream Ryan. As an aside, I’ve watched streams from all the clubs in the division and, I may be biased, but the Hearts stream, in my opinion, is the best in the league. I think having 3 camera positions makes a massive difference and having instant replays of the action makes it almost feel like a live Sky match. Very good commentary as well. I’m not saying it’s worth £18.50 but probably worth £4.50 more than some others. I think they are all overpriced to be honest.

Hopefully same team and shape as last week but replace Mackay-Steven with Jamie Walker. I’d expect Hearts to have70% possession and have about 20 shots on target but as we saw recently against Morton, it doesn’t mean we’ll necessarily score more than one. We are due someone an absolute doing but not sure it will be tomorrow. As long as we get the three points that’s all that matters really with games running out.

Well, that’s one of the most obvious bits of cheating I’ve seen for a long time. It never ceases to amaze me how fans see what they want to see even when given damming evidence. Good to see a number of Queens fans recognising it was never a penalty - those claiming otherwise are clearly so biased they can’t see straight. Also, let’s not call this clever play - it’s cheating. should have been a free kick to Hearts and a booking for the player trying to con the ref. The sad thing is he had the ball in a dangerous area but, rather than back himself to create, chose to ignore the ball, veer off towards Kingsley and almost dislocate his kneecap in jamming his foot in between Kingsley’s legs. Great example to set for all young players watching. Anyway, overall a fair result overall. Queens ran themselves into the ground and were very organised. I actually thought Queens looked more likely to score a second than Hearts equalise in the second half. I think on that showing Queens should survive - I hope they do. Neilson’s excuse about the pitch was pathetic. Hearts really are not that great and as such any away points are actually not to be sniffed at with games already running out for others in a shortened season.. Need to recruit well in the summer though.

Fair point! However, exhibit B does show that what was an easy game on one day may not be an easy game on another. The Queen of the South v Hearts game on Friday has not been played so we can’t say whether it will be an easy game or not yet. History means very little as Hamilton showed - it’s how both teams play on the day. If Hearts turn up with a bad attitude or Queens simply play well then the last result can easily be reversed. I think it will be close and would be delighted with a third scrappy1-0 win in a row for Hearts. We are not blowing teams away.

Very good! Exhibit B November 2020: Rangers 8 Hamilton 0; February 2021: Hamilton 1 Rangers 1; ...and Hamilton created the better chances.

Hope Robbie has the team really wound up for this one. Anytime we are not, we look very average. Hope we play a full strength team and wind our players up. Every game should be treated like a cup final when you are chasing a league title. The fantastic win by Arbroath against a strong Dunfermline team yesterday shows that there are no easy games.

Inverness to sneak into the top 4. No idea who will drop out though from the current incumbents. Hearts haven’t won the league yet - loads of points still to play for. These tight 1-0 wins switch to tight 1-0 defeats and it can look very different, very quickly.

On the pitch we have been streets above and ahead of Hibs for many, many years. Even you fans have said as much. Easter Road Stadium is the blandest stadium imaginable and is soulless and disliked by most right- minded football supporters - Tynecastle is the opposite. That is fact. Hibs would have to knock down all 4 stands and start from scratch - you'd need to employ a decent stadium architect, rather than the utter numpty who designed your current sticklebrick stands - to even dream of coming close to playing in a stadium as well-liked as Tynecastle. It's great for the capital that we have Tynecastle.

Hearts will not pay money for a goalkeeper when they have 21 year-old Jack Hamilton as the number one in waiting, not just for club but also for Scotland. The guy has been capped at every age group for Scotland and just needs to get a year of first-team football under his belt to build up his reputation. It wouldn't surprise me if he is the Hearts no1 before the end of this season despite his age - he is that good.