Often when I turn up at Tynecastle I turn away from the pitch momentarily and have a look to see who is seated in the director's box. There's normally a couple of other Scottish football managers in addition to the usual suits, occasionally Craig Levein, and sometimes the odd team boss from down south. Now and again you get a couple of interesting ones, Peter Schmeichel dropped by once when his son played against Hearts whilst on loan to Falkirk. Rugby's Ian McGeechan has been spotted watching a game and once, quite bizarrely, we had two of the lads from Boyzone in attendance. Apparently they are big mates with the former Hearts player Alan Maybury.

On Saturday we had another out of the ordinary guest, GMTV's Lorraine Kelly. Lorraine is a well known Dundee Utd fan and stopped by Tynecastle to watch her boys take on Hearts.

The lovely Lorraine Kelly

 

Incidentally whilst searching for this picture of Lorraine I came across some interesting results (not literally). A simple google search for Lorraine Kelly with 'safe search' switched off should bring back the same results. I'll admit I was completely oblivious to her past home photography efforts, one can only assume times were tough prior to her first televisual big break. Still, at least I now fully understand Bo Selecta's 'growler' joke!

Lorraine Kelly's...erm..growler

Anyway, enough abut middle aged ladies unkempt shubbery. Dundee Utd fans travelled to Gorgie in reasonable number given their slightly shaky start to the season. Prior to meeting Hearts,the Arabs had drawn their opening game, lost 4-0 to Inverness and crashed out of Europe at the hands of AEK Athens. The second leg of their Europa tie was only on Thursday so their fitness was likely to be put to an early season test.

Dundee Utd fans - before the away section filled up properly

Hearts on the other hand went into this game full of confidence and having won their last two games. Despite the latter of the two being against lowly Elgin, the confidence levels in the maroon camp should have been pretty high. A few injuries and suspensions forced Hearts into a few changes in personnel. Zaliukas and Wallace were unavailable, meaning Hearts took to the field with a rather unusual back four of Craig Thomson, Bouzid, Barr and Jonsson. A suspension to Palazuelos meant that Mroviec came into the Hearts midfield alongside Suso, Black and Templeton, whilst Ryan Stevenson played a slightly more advanced role in supporting Kevin Kyle.

The teams shake hand before kick off 

Hearts started strongly and had the better of the first half going close on a number of occasions. They finally made good one of their chances after 33 minutes through a classic counter attack. Suso picked up the ball just outside the Hearts box and knock the ball past the cumbersome Gary Kenneth before round him, charging the length of the pitch and slotting a nicely weighted ball to David Templeton, who, in turn, slotted the ball past Pernis and into the net off the far post. Hearts continued to have the better of the first half thereafter but despite playing well never really threatened to add to their goal tally.

Hearts players and fans applaud the first goal

Into the second half, Hearts continued to look the stronger off the two sides but Dundee Utd certainly looked more dangerous as the game progressed. Jon Daly, the Utd front man wasn't winning a huge amount of balls for the Tangerines, but Dundee Utd were quick to the second ball and gradually began to control the midfield. The Arabs were awarded a penalty after hearts were adjudged to have handled the ball in the area after corner. I initially thought it was a very soft penalty award but having seen it back I had to concede that the referee

Craig Thomson had little choice but to award the spot kick. That's not to say that I was at all enamoured with his overall performance, Thomson was his usual over officious, inconsistent self. He was as bad to one team as he was to the other, however, he missed obvious fouls, gave baffling decisions and frustrated both sets of players and fans alike. Sadly this is the standard of refereeing to which fans of SPL clubs have become all too familiar.

Jon Daly stepped up to take the spot kick and struck it fairly tamely to Marian Kello's left. The Hearts keeper dived the right way and managed to reach out a palm to deny Daly the goal and keep Hearts one ahead. The Tynecastle stands erupted much in the same way in which they had done following Templeton's goal, the fans clearly hoped this would be the catalyst to Hearts seeing out the game and securing all three points. Sadly (for me anyway) this was not to be the case. Morgaro Gomis who had been introduced mid way through the second half, is always a dangerous player. With his obvious talent and fresh legs, it wasn't rocket science to envisag him being be at the centre of any Dundee Utd comeback. Indeed it was Gomis who levelled matters after about 77 minutes with a stunning strike. Kello in the Hearts goal had no chance of saving his thunderous effort and as disappointing as it was from a Hearts point of view, we could at least console ourselves in having seen two goals which surely must be strong contenders for goal of the month (and in the Gomis strike, a potential goal of the season!).

Despite the best effort from both sides in the closing 10 minutes the game ended 1-1. It was disappointing given that Hearts had dominated for long spell but similarly I sure they'll be plenty of Dundee Utd fans slightly disappointed that they didn't managed to complete their late smash and grab effort and escape back to the City of Teenage Pregnancy Discovery with all three points.

It was certainly a great game for the neutral and given that Hearts were playing one of the stronger teams in the league, and dare I say it, a probable rival for third place. They shouldn’t be too downhearted

Four-play...

I'll be honest, I'm not sure I would have bothered with a CIS Cup 2nd round tie against Elgin on a Tuesday night, however, Hearts had kindly given me a pair of free tickets for this match in return for me thoroughly embarrassing myself at their recent activities night for potential media team volunteers and, I suspect, giving them an abundance of new material to keep them amused during tea breaks.

My Dad and I turned up just before kick off to a sparsely populated Tynecastle (attendance, 4922).  Both ends of the stadium had been kept closed along with the lower tier of the old main stand, the majority of the Hearts fans therefore were tightly packed into the middle sections of the Wheatfield stand.  It made a pleasant change to view the action from this angle, you certainly get a better, unobstructed view, but there's something about the grotty, crumbling old main stand and my seat  with it's close proximity to the benches that I find hard to beat.  It undoubtedly gives a feeling of being unbelievably close to the action and this provides an added element to the normal match day experience.  Given a straight choice I'd still choose my shitty old bucket seat every time.

 View from the posh seats, padded no less!

Elgin had brought a reasonable amount of fans considering the distance most of them would have had to travel, the fact it was being played on a Tuesday night and the small matter of them being arguably the worst league team in Scottish football.  Fair play to them though, they made plenty of noise for the duration of the game and they appeared intent of enjoying the evening regardless of the final score.

Elgin fans in the upper main stand

The first few minutes of any game against a lower league side are always nervy.  Thoughts of an embarrassing cup upset, however small, would be present in the players minds and these thoughts would become more prevalent the longer the games continued to be goalless.  As soon as Hearts settled after about five minutes though it became clear that they were going to win comfortably.  Once Eggert Jonsson opened the scoring with a looping effort over Elgin's Steve Dunn on 11 minutes it was more a question of how many they'd score.

Hearts remained in control and doubled their lead after half an hour through a Kevin Kyle header stemming from an inch perfect Craig Thomson cross.  Indeed, Elgin had their keeper to thank for keeping the score at 2-0 come the interval.  Whilst Steve Dunn was possible at fault for the first goal, he certainly made amends by making three last ditch saves before Kyle struck with his header.

 Kevin Kyle is congratulated on his goal

Two more goals were chalked up after the break, the pick of which came from Arvydas Novikovas.  The goal itself was a beautifully struck left foot shot which was the culmination of a classy passing move and an audacious back heel from Ryan Stevenson.

Elgin themselves had a chance to bag a goal which would have been a nice reward for their travelling fans.  Craig Gunn went close for the Highlanders, firing in a shot only for it to be saved by Janos Balogh before rebounding back over the cross bar off Eggert Jonsson.

Scott Robinson topped the night off for Hearts by bagging the fourth after he came on as a substitute  on 70 minutes.  The young forward rounded the Elgin keeper and slotted the ball into the net nicely after being played in by Suso.

 Hearts restart after the half time break

So, all in all, a very comprehensive victory for Hearts and more of a fine tuning exercise than anything else.  The cynics will quite rightly point out that it was only Elgin, but scoring four goals for the second game in succession has to be good for morale and, for the moment, things appear to be ticking over quite nicely.

Sports reporting, how hard can it be?

Bloody hard as it turned out!

I was invited to an activities evening at Tynecastle last night having responded to a recent advert for volunteers to help their media team at both home and away matches.   The format of the evening involved the 30 or so invitees being split into four groups and rotating through a series of activities.  These focused upon match reporting, composing a news bulletin from a press conference, conducting a one on one interview and commentating on 3-4 minutes of football from Hearts’ recent pre-season friendly against Blackburn Rovers.

Having been given my name tag and shown through to the Executive Suite, I joined the collection of other potential volunteers shuffling nervously as we awaited Marketing Manager Lawrence Broadie’s welcome speech.  Following Lawrence's short talk and explanation of the evening's format we were split into our groups before commencing the arranged tasks.

My group tackled the match reporting challenge first.  This was the part of the evening that I was least worried about. I figured that considering that I write a fair bit in my spare time, it would be a doddle to compose a few eloquent paragraphs about my favourite team playing my favourite game.  About two minutes in the exercise however, the horrific realisation of exactly how difficult a skill match reporting is firmly hit home.    We were given seven minutes of highlights from Hearts' visit to Aberdeen last season (the one featuring the Eggert Jonsonn overhead kick) which was pretty much packed solid with chances or incidents played back to back.  We then had a further five minutes to compile all these incidents into a match report and summary before downing tools and saving the document.  I tried my best but I struggled to even reach the goal incident and was nowhere near finishing when time was up.  Amal Daher the regular match reporter and long standing media team volunteer admitted  that the exercise was tough given the lack of natural lulls in the action.  “How on earth do you do this?” asked the guy next to me.  “I get 90 minutes” she laughed,  “everyone's has different approaches, I normally don't write anything for the first ten minutes, I prefer to watch and get a feel of the game first”.  Rather than continue the report on the sly after Amal has signalled an end to the exercise, I reluctantly accepted that I should probably write this task off.  I followed the four other fairly shell shocked looking participants and headed back to the Executive Suite with my tail between my legs to the awaiting mock press conference.

The second challenge involved listening to a seven minute long interview with Jim Jefferies and compose a short bulletin of about 150 words.  The idea was to pick out a keyline from the press interview and produce a news worthy piece.  Paul Kiddie, Hearts' Communications Manager told us after our time had expired that he'd picked out two main keylines from the press call.  The first potential keyline stemmed from a brief comment from the Hearts' boss that he would be keen to add to the midfield personnel within his squad should the right deal be possible before the end of the transfer window.  The second was Jim Jefferies' assertion that Hearts disciplinary problems are now a thing of the past and we will never again witness a repeat of the ill discipline shown at New Douglas Park when Hearts last played Hamilton on the road.  Kiddie reassured us that it was not a problem should we have chosen to compose a piece surrounding Jim Jefferies' talk of the upbeat mood in the Hearts camp following the slightly disappointing opening day draw against St Johnstone.  That was, after all, what the first five minutes of the interview had been about and, low and behold, it was what I'd decided to base my short article upon.  I felt that I managed to compose a reasonable piece and follow an appropriate structure despite perhaps not choosing the most dynamic angle and picking out the same keyline that a seasoned hack would have gone for.  Nevertheless if I hadn't realised exactly how amateurish my scribblings were before this event, I was certainly starting to realise it now!

By this stage my group had all dropped their guards somewhat.  All the others participants seemed really decent guys and we'd begun to all chat happily about proceeding and indulge in a bit of nervous swearing about how 'fucking difficult' it was.  One guy commented that the remaining challenges involved the 'fun activities' and as nervous as I'd been about the prospect of commentating on a game I was inclined to agree with him.

The next stop saw us slipping into a side room and joining Lawrence Broadie for a chance to practice one on one interviews.  Lawrence gave us a bit of information about interview techniques and gave us some insight into his philosophy on the club's communication with fans.  As Hearts Marketing Manager little gets released from the club without it going through Lawrence first.  The format of the challenge was that Lawrence acted as Jim Jefferies whilst we each conducted an interview with him asking around three questions each.  Just as I began to quickly compose some questions in my head, Lawrence gave the warning that many radio journalists are so fixated upon a series of questions that they've prepared that they often ignore the subject’s answers. This lead to them missing the opportunity to delve further with appropriate follow up questions, being as rigidly fixed as they are upon their pre-prepared questions.  I decided at that point to abandon the idea of mentally composing a second and third question, choosing instead to simply be led by Lawrence (or Jim's) answers to my opener.  Lawrence then asked who wanted to go first and I finally broker the resulting three second silence by blurting out “go on then, I'll go first” in the vague hope that extra points may be awarded for displays of bravery.

This of course meant that I got the least amount of time possible to come up with my questions so I based my first on a purely imaginary scenario and led with...

“So Jim a good day at the office today, a 3-0 win for Hearts, you must be very pleased with the team's overall performance?”

No only bland and uninspired but I also managed to drop in a clichéd metaphor.  Good work.

Lawrence to his credit gave a lengthy and believable reply mentioning the contribution of Craig Thomson. Quick as a fox I pounced upon this opportunity by following up with...

“You made reference to Craig Thomson there, is Craig a player you're hoping will really push on this season, cementing his place in the first team and making his position his own?”

Lawrence again gave a lengthy football manager-esque reply, which allowed me to finish with...

“Finally Jim do you remain keen to add to the squad prior to the closure of the transfer window at the end of the month?”

And there we had it.  It was certainly more Jeremy Kyle than Jeremy Paxman but I felt comfortable enough during the process.  I thought that I'd held my own and I couldn’t be too disappointed with my first stab at interviewing someone face to face in what was pretty intimidating circumstances.

Finally we made our way upstairs for the final and probably the most difficult challenge, three minutes of commentary with Mark Donaldson, the owner of Multimedia Sport, anchor man for Hearts World and former Sports Editor and Head of Sport (and presenter) at Radio Forth and Talk 107 respectively.  Mark's association with Talk 107 allowed him the opportunity to work in London for talkSPORT as their Scottish Sports Correspondent and the range of events Mark has covered throughout his career is pretty phenomenal (viewable by clicking this link).  Mark is shortly leaving Scotland for the USA having landed a dream job commentating on top level football (soccer?) action for ESPN, involving Champions League, International competitions and other top level tournaments.  It was therefore great to get the chance to meet him before he departs in order to start his new life and embark upon the fresh challenge ahead.  

Prior to the evening commencing I'd ben absolutely shitting myself at the prospect of doing the commentary task.  I'd spent part of the afternoon trying to memorise the names of the Blackburn team only to find that team sheets were available for us!  Still, I'd made some useful notes on things I could drop into the conversation during my brief stint on air and I hoped that these little sound bites may come in handy for filling any awkward silences  tht may occur.  Mark read out our names in a random order and it turned out that I was to go last, this gave me a chance to listen to the other lads which helped put me at ease as it soon became clear that everyone appeared to be as nervous about this particular task as I was!  The commentary itself was intended to be an audio commentary as supposed to commentary intended for a TV audience. This is surely the harder to the two mediums.  The lack of pictures means that radio listeners are relying on the commentator to paint them a picture of the action that’s occurring, rather than just adding detail to the picture in the way in which a TV commentator would. 

As soon as I slipped the headphone on though I immediately absolutely loved it.  I started pretty badly however, 

“Morten Gamst Pederden collects the balls for Blackburn just inside his own half and slide the ball out wide to.......erm” ...cue a short silence.  

I did manage to collect myself thereafter and keep the commentary steady throughout my short stint.  I gave the all important score and time check and invited Mark in on occasion to pass comment on certain developments.  Given that I'd been handed the tail end of a pre-season friendly to work with, I was often struggling to find any real action to talk about.  This led to me dropping in any relevant facts I'd scribbled down earlier in the day. I recall coming out with some awful line about both teams recently released kits and how Blackburn Rover's Crown Paints sponsorship “evokes memories of Liverpool in the 80s”.  I also went on about how Neil McDonald was orchestrating from the touchline in the absence of Sam Allardyce and bored everyone with some chat about their working relationship.  I waffled a lot of the time (so busy was I to have stuff prepared on Blackburn I probably neglected to talk about Hearts enough!) and occasionally continued this waffling when the ball was back in play and I should have been calling the action.  I'm under no illusions that I was any good but I absolutely loved every second of it, so much so that I now think, at the age of 30 and as unrealistic as it is, I've finally discovered my dream job.

The commentary task brought the activities to an end and as such we returned to the Executive Suite for a final thank you from Lawrence and the kind gift of two complimentary tickets each to he forthcoming CIS cup tie against Elgin City.

Lawrence assured us all that he would speak to the rest of the team over the next few days and would be in touch to tell us the outcome during coming week.  I probably fell into the 'reasonable' category, however, there will have been a couple of attendees who really shone and as such I don’t expect to be writing any official match reports or conducting any new bulletins for Hearts any time soon.  Regardless of that though I obtained a fantastic insight into the work that goes on within the Hearts media team.  It was a wonderful experience and I remain extremely grateful for the chance to go along, take part in the evening's proceedings and meet some very interesting and talented people.

Opening day stalemate...

At last the first SPL game of the season had arrived!  The sun broke out from behind the clouds just in time to beat down upon Tynecastle's main stand as Hearts got their 2010/2011 season under way. 

The teams line shake hands prior to kick off

St Johnstone fans full of early season optimism made the short journey from Perth in large numbers and it was encouraging to see an SPL team bring such a healthy support.  For the most part away supports at Tynecastle are poor with only the Old Firm, Hibs and Aberdeen having any sizeable following on the road.

St Johnstone's support packs two sections of the Roseburn Stand

The big talking point pre match was whether Hearts' recent signings and new strike pairing Kevin Kyle and Stephen Elliott would be unleashed from kick off.  It soon transpired that this wouldn't be the case.  With both players perhaps still low on match fitness, both new strikers started the game from the bench.  Indeed it was a player with a similar name but a more familiar face who was chosen to start up front and he grasped the opportunity with both hands by opening the scoring.  Callum Elliot managed to get on the end of a Lee Wallace cross at the near post and expertly despatched a header into the net past Saint's keeper Peter Enckleman.  Elliot, so often maligned by the Gorgie faithful, put in an incredibly hard working shift during his time on the pitch.  In addition to getting the opening goal he performed a lot of strong support play and was integral to much of the Jambo's best efforts.  That, in a nutshell, is what is so infuriating about Callum Elliot. He undoubtedly has talent and ability, however, consistency may be an attribute which he could be described as being in shorter supply of.

Hearts' lead last little over a minute, another debutant, Sam Parkin powered a header past Marian Kello after meeting Cleveland Taylor's cross with his head.  It was disappointing from a maroon point of view. Hearts having finally made the break through simply switched off at the back and allowed St Johnstone to instantly undo all the good work that the Jambos had hitherto produced.

Despite the game being in the balance, Hearts were the better team throughout the match.  St Johnstone's direct approach was effective but on most occasions did little to stretch the Hearts back four.  Jefferies did eventually throw his new strike paring into the fray, but try as they might, they simply couldn't break down the dogged St Johnstone defence.  The pair fought manfully to get a winning goal and Stephen Elliot nearly succeeded, only to be denied by Michael Duberry's headed clearance on the goal line.  Both players were noticeably short on match fitness which was understandable given their recent injuries and resulting lack of pre season training.

Trialist Jonathan Toto watched from the Main Stand

There was little action of note in the second half.  St Johnstone had Anderson sent off for a rash challenge from behind on Suso.  After the game, a small group of St Johnstone fans on Russell Road sarcastically observed how quickly Suso appeared to recover from Anderson's 'leg breaking challenge' (...I remain unsure as to whom they were quoting).  The last time I checked, red and yellow card were issues on the basis of conduct, intent and by the letter of the game's laws, rather than being based on how badly one injures an opponent.  Still, as I commented to my Dad, football is all about opinions, it was just that theirs were nonsense.

The sun beats down upon the Tynecastle pitch

Hearts were to be slightly disappointed to share the points given their dominance.  St Johnstone meanwhile continued their impressive record of not losing an opening day fixture since 2004.

Hearts v Blackburn, Tynecastle

My good lady wife was working an early shift on Saturday morning (7am start) which essentially meant two things.  Firstly I had the pleasure of waking up at 6:15am to attend to my daughter, feed her, bath her, take her out and generally keep her amused and secondly, as a result of this, I was half knackered when the time came to head over to Tynecastle for Hearts' final pre-season friendly against Blackburn Rovers (Of course, I wouldn't have it any other way, she's worth it). Having spent the early part of my day watching 'Upsy Daisy' from the 'In The Night Garden' prance around pointlessly and unsuccessfully chase an elusive ball around a park like an big overweight girl, I was hoping not to witness a similar display at Tynecastle.  Thankfully Christian Nade moved on at the end of last season so I could relax on that front.

Nade?

My Dad and I arrived later than normal at Tynecastle and with no spare time for a pre-match pint, we made our way to the usual seats just as the game kicked off.  Roseburn and Russell Road had seemed particularly quiet as we walked toward the ground and this was reflected by the attendance of just 6,333 paying customers. With the game being on a Saturday and against opposition from the English top flight I had expect the occasion to capture the imagination of the Hearts faithful more than it did.  Many of the regular faces from our area weren't present (assuming they've renewed their season tickets) and hadn't opted to pay an extra tenner for the privilege of seeing the game.  To be honest I don't know why clubs don't just let season ticket holders into pre-season games for free, what's the point in having empty seats when you could have increased the attendance and let the team benefit from the improved atmosphere?  Additionally only a small section of Blackburn fans had decided to make the trip north.  I was expecting more away fans than there were at the midweek game against Wolves but there certainly wasn't much in it and I think Wolves marginally brought more.  

Blackburn were also fielding a side against Celtic the following day in Glasgow (seemingly this was to be their stronger side of the weekend), so I thought the prospect of a weekend split between Edinburgh and Glasgow might have attracted more travelling fans than it did.  Fair play to those who did make the journey though, whilst their songs, chants and general banter faded as the game went on (in line with the general level of entertainment), they supported their team well, made a far bit noise and subjected Tynecastle to the obligatory In-ger-land chants.  The only thing they could be marked down on was that they only brought two flags, one of which was barely big enough to use as a tea towel.  Someone ought to point them towards Charlie and Pete. 

The Blackburn support

Having been pretty comprehensively out muscled by Wolves, I was rather worried how Hearts would handle Blackeye Rovers.  I noticed there appeared to be a larger than normal contingent of paramedics on hand and wondered if this was a stipulation for any fixture involving a Sam Allardyce side.  I needn't have worried, Blackburn were physically imposing and played in the usual bruising yet effective Big Sam style but they were fair with it.  Hearts themselves are no angels and the only foul of note which sticks in the mind was actually a late challenge from the Jambos' defender Jason Thomson.  Blackburn started strongly and had an effort cleared of the line before Hearts opened the scoring through a screamer from Suso, a looping left foot shot which left the keeper stranded and bulged the top left corner of the net. 

Suso jogs back after scoring, Pedersen looks on

Novikovas and Suso were put in pretty good performance for Hearts whilst Zaliukas was enjoying being kept busy by Morten Gamst Pedersen whose quality was clearly evident.  Like Wolves Kevin Doyle earlier in the week, Pedersen looked a classy operator and a cut above most of the other players on the pitch. Blackburn equalised with a well taken goal in the second half from their on-loan signing from Manchester United Mame Diouf after he was set up in space by Pedersen. Diouf made no mistake and slotted the ball low past Jamie McDonald who played the second half in goal for Hearts after replacing Janos Balogh.  

Like the Wolves game it was typical pre season fare.  The game was competitive but wasn't played at the full blooded pace of a league season encounter and the second half soon became frequently interrupted by substitutions from both sides.  The most interesting change from a Hearts perspective was the removal of Calum Elliot for the on trial Cameroonian Jonathan Toto.  Toto had little service but looked strong, quick and probably did enough to make Jim Jeffries think he's worthy of bringing on board, even despite today's news that Hearts have secured the services of Stephen Elliot from Preston North End.

Jonathan Toto

So, the preparations are over and the SPL will get under way next week.  First up for Hearts are St Johnstone at Tynecastle.  I for one can't wait and I'll be hoping to enjoy another sunny afternoon watching football after a pre match drink at The Diggers.  All I need to do is ensure I don't have to spend the morning with bloody Upsy Daisy...I'm sure she's a Hibby.

Bench at the final whistle

Hearts v Wolves, Tynecastle

Every year I claim not to be the biggest fan of pre-season friendlies, however, every year I seem to cave in and end up buying a ticket for whatever games have been lined up at Tynecastle.  My Dad sees them as pretty pointless (at least from a fan’s perspective) and I concur to a certain degree but it’s the extraordinary nature of them that I find attractive.  I enjoy seeing Hearts playing against (usually) English opposition as these occasions are one of the few yardsticks available by which to measure Hearts against fair to middling EPL teams.  Also being as  fascinated as I am by the fan culture associated with football, I enjoy seeing different travelling supports, looking at their flags and listening to their songs.  I’m also normally chomping at the bit to watch some live football after a summer trying and failing to care about Cricket or Tennis.

So ultimately there was never any doubt that I’d leave work at 5pm and head along to The Diggers to meet Pete.  Pete, having got there before me had secured us a prime spot at the bar and ordered me an IPA.  The Diggers was much quieter than it normally is during the league season so we were able to stand at the bar, enjoy our pints and savour one of their excellent steak pies without having to perform the usual precarious balancing act (think mid-winter in a crammed bar trying to juggle a heavy coat, scarf, pint and pie on a paper plate without spilling your drink, anyone else’s drink or just losing your balance and falling on your arse like a complete tit – believe me it’s harder than it sounds).  Most of the time I don’t bother with food before or during matches, but on this occasion, coming straight from work without time for dinner gave me the only excuse I needed.

After a couple of beers and a catch up we made the short walk down Henderson Terrace and along Gorgie Road towards Tynecastle.  There appeared to be a reasonable number of fans around including a healthy smattering of Wolves supporters.  As we reached McLeod Street I noticed a couple of guys selling pin badges and ventured over with the intention of adding to my collection, it turned out they were a couple of Wolves lads (if the vast selection of Wolves badges on display hadn’t identified them then their strong Black Country accents certainly did) so I managed to pick up a badge featuring both teams’ crests and the date of the fixture, not a bad addition at all.

The Wolves support and their flags

We made our way to our usual seats shortly before kick-off and watched as the game commenced.  The match itself was a bit of a non-event from a Hearts point of view and it’s quite difficult to see what Jim Jeffries could have taken from it, other than reinforcing the notion that we require a couple more squad strengthening signings.  Wolves took the lead after four minutes from a Greg Halford free kick which was appallingly defended by Hearts.  Stephen Ward then added a second goal with his head, connecting with a throw in into the box after leaping above the static Hearts defence.  Hearts got the opportunity to build match fitness and give some younger, fringe players experience against well drilled opposition, but to be honest, Wolves won at a canter.  Despite Hearts ludicrous image amongst the Scottish football public as a ‘big physical team’ the difference in physique between the two sides was massive.  Hearts looked incredibly lightweight, particularly in midfield, and Wolves were able to knock players like Templeton and Black off the ball at will.  Ryan Stevenson drilled a shot towards Marcus Hahnemann's goal near the end of the first half and Callum Elliot managed to head into the head of the Wolves keeper after being nicely played in by Suso, but as far as goal mouth action for the Jambos went, that was very much that. 

Mick orchestrates from the touchline 

Wolves continued to boss events and should have added to their two goal tally on a few occasions.  Essentially they were playing on a different level to the one which Hearts currently reside. 

Templeton showed some nice touches but was bossed out of the game, Suso wasn’t bad, Elliot was whilst trying hard was as ineffective as ever and one has to think this season in finally his last chance.  Lee Wallace was the only Hearts player who really looked at home at this level and one has to wonder how long it’ll be before he tests himself there on a regular basis.  The Hearts back four looked steady whilst unspectacular, Barr and Kello didn't impress, still, friendlies are about testing yourselves and preparing for the forthcoming season and so in that regard it was probably mission accomplished.

Temps and Wallace make their way inside

The only other point of note was that the pantomime villain role was ably filled by ex Hibs player Steven Fletcher.  He didn't make it onto the pitch but he seemed to enjoy the good natured abuse he received whilst warming up alongside the main stand, and I got a photo with Mick McCarthy, that was nice.  

It was an interesting exercise (although that’s all it was) and it was good to see Wolverhampton Wanderers and their fans visit Edinburgh and give us a change from the norm.

Russ and Mick McCarthy