The Final Word

Scott Cockburn

From the recent series of games, it seems Hearts have improved only as the temperatures are dropping.

That has made for some uncomfortable half-times but the second-half moves from back-foot-to-front has made it a decent fortnight. In the St Mirren match we once again had a side who, by their own admission, played some of their best stuff of the season and although Hearts were off the pace, they stepped up in the second period to claim a – in the end – convincing win. Five days later I reckon Hearts could win back-to-back World Cups and we still wouldn’t be confident of a result at Celtic Park. However, we did seem to play with an air of confidence that is not always with us in the East End and on another night things may have fallen differently. It certainly underlined the need for not only key decisions to go your way but also to take your chances.

And then to Sunday where it was a complete contrast to Parkhead with the Hearts support making up 80% of the crowd. Again, we were off the pace in the first-half and although we only conceded maybe four chances to Livi’ to do so in the space of less than a minute(!) saw Craig Gordon called into heroic action once more. Second-half, lo-and-behold, we start playing as we should; much further up the park and could have won more convincingly on another day. That’s all led to a decent return of six points from nine and whilst we’ll need a full ninetyminute performance today it has cemented our current position of third and ensured that confidence remains high at Tynecastle.

Hearts versus Rangers is a classic staple of the Scottish football calendar - right from the opening day of the first ever League season in 1890-91. (And despite my son’s suggestion no, I wasn’t there.) Of course, our results against Rangers can definitely be filed under ‘mixed’ at best especially at Ibrox but nonetheless there are some good memories.

In the St Mirren programme, I mentioned Robbo’s last minuteequaliser in 1984 as one of my first recollections of Tynecastle but at the end of that season I also vaguely remember Kevin Keegan playing in maroon against Rangers for Alex MacDonald’s Testimonial. Pre-match some man in the middle with a microphone was receiving dog’s abuse from the Shed. I later learned it was someone called Andy Cameron. Moving forward we had a terrific series of results in the mid-nineties with the fantastic 4-2 win in the Scottish Cup - complete with the foraging Dave McPherson - in 1995, Allan Johnston’s hat-trick at Ibrox a year later and then at the end of 1996-97 John Robertson broke the League scoring record with a double on the final day in a 3-1 win. Earlier that season we’d also managed to squeeze in a 3-0 defeat at Ibrox despite ending the match with only seven men. Rangers had the advantage of starting with 12 it seemed. However, it would be fair to say that Rangers hit the new SPL-era with even more money and that results began to fade. In fact,

after defeating them on the opening day of 1998-99 it was a case of just six victories in 57 attempts prior to the Ibrox club departing for the Third Division. Yet, the Championship jousts of 2014-15 more than went Hearts way and since then, we have defeated them twice in the same season (2016-17) and then two seasons ago repeated the trick as Rangers visited Tynecastle three times and failed to win. Perhaps the joke that Hearts returning to the Premiership was enough for Steven Gerrard to leave was true.

A game I remember particularly well though was way back in December 1988. I looked on as a fresh-faced 12-year-old from the Panini Family Enclosure across a packed Tynecastle. Hearts had just qualified for the QuarterFinals of the UEFA Cup with an aggregate win in Mostar and on arrival back in Edinburgh were joined by two new recruits; Tosh McKinlay from Dundee and a certain John Robertson from Newcastle United. That represented £1m of an outlay which, what with inflation, is around £2.3m today. Almost unbelievable to consider now. Novafone were freshly added to the jerseys as sponsors and what followed was a classic ‘old school’ game. The atmosphere was electric throughout. Mike Galloway had us ahead early but then ‘tackled’ an unaware Richard Gough like a train - after a foul had been given against Hearts - and was sent-off. The home side may have been in poor domestic form to that point but this day they successfully battled away with ten men until Mark Walters kicked Walter Kidd (in front of the Hearts dugout!) and handily even-upped numbers. (Walters incidentally had suffered horrific, shameful racist abuse which included being showered with bananas from the Shed just the year before - much to my incomprehension to this day). lan Ferguson scored a clinching second late on and Tynecastle’s day was done. A few weeks later Ferguson would score again, to defeat Bayern Munich and the grand old ground shook once more. Here’s to more of the good stuff today. Speaking of good stuff plaudits are due to the ‘This Is My Story’ podcast team for arranging that a number of fans who might not otherwise be here today have had a ““a wee Christmas treat”. It shows yet again the collective spirit and appreciation within the Hearts support. Well, done lads.

Finally, England women’s recent 20-0 victory over their Latvian counterparts brings to mind previous big Hearts’ wins. Hearts have not always been the freest of scorers but I do happily recall hitting Dunfermline for seven (when it could easily have been 12) and fellow Fifers Cowdenbeath when it was double-figures. A strong memory of the Cowden’ game was that it was actually pretty tight for the opening period but once Hearts had the advantage, they were ruthless and eventually scored five goals in each half. Even then I don’t recall many missed chances as such so the Latvian result does beg the question of how you lose 20 goals in 90 minutes? Who knows? Anyway, let’s not try and find out.

FIRST TEAM RESULTS

SEASON 2021 -2022

DATE OPPONENT ATT F A LINE UP

Sat July 10 Peterhead (LC) 246 2-0 Gordon M Smith A Cochrane d Souttar Halkett Kingsley Haring Tues July 13 Cove Rangers (LC) 1983 3-0 Gordon M Smith A Cochrane Souttar Halkett Kingsley b Ginnelly c Tues July 20 Stirling Albion (LC) 211 2-0 Gordon M Smith A Cochrane e Souttar Halkett Kingsley Ginnelly b Sun July 25 Inverness CT (LC) 2989 1-0 Gordon M Smith A Cochrane Halkett Halliday a Kingsley Ginnelly Sat July 31 Celtic 5272 2-1 Gordon M Smith A Cochrane Souttar Halkett Kingsley Ginnelly b

Sat Aug 7 St Mirren 1039 2-1 Gordon M Smith Halliday Souttar Halkett A Cochrane Ginnelly a Sun Aug 15 Celtic (LC) 42361 2-3 Gordon M Smith A Cochrane c Souttar Halkett Kingsley Halliday a Sun Aug 22 Aberdeen 17449 1-1 Gordon M Smith Halliday a Souttar Halkett A Cochrane Ginnelly c Sat Aug 28 Dundee Utd 9324 2-0 Gordon M Smith Halliday c Souttar Halkett A Cochrane Woodburn a Sun Sep 12 Hibs 18177 0-0 Gordon M Smith b A Cochrane Souttar Halkett Kingsley Woodburn c Sat Sep 18 Ross County 3802 2-2 Gordon T Moore Kingsley Souttar Baningime Halkett McKay Sat Sep 25 Livingston 16175 3-0 Gordon M Smith Kingsley b T Moore Baningime Halkett d McKay c

Sat Oct 2 Motherwell 17028 2-0 Gordon M Smith Kingsley T Moore Baningime Halkett a McKay c

Sat Oct 16 Rangers 49650 1-1 Gordon M Smith Kingsley Souttar Baningime Halkett McKay c Sat Oct 23 Dundee 17557 1-1 Gordon M Smith Kingsley Souttar Baningime Halkett McKay c Wed Oct 27 St Johnstone 6083 1-1 Gordon M Smith Kingsley Souttar Baningime Halkett Ginnelly a Sat Oct 30 Aberdeen 9736 1-2 Gordon M Smith A Cochrane c Souttar pen Halkett Kingsley Ginnelly a

Sat Nov 6 Dundee Utd 18129 5-2 Gordon T Moore Kingsley Souttar Baningime Halkett McKay a Sat Nov 20 Motherwell 7908 0-2 Gordon M Smith A Cochrane Souttar T Moore Kingsley Devlin Sat Nov 27 St Mirren 17311 2-0 Gordon M Smith Halliday Souttar Halkett Kingsley McKay Thu Dec 2 Celtic 55000 0-1 Gordon M Smith Kingsley Souttar Haring Halkett Woodburn a Sun Dec 5 Livingston 5597 1-0 Gordon M Smith a A Cochrane Souttar Halkett Kingsley Woodburn b Sun Dec 12 Rangers Sat Dec 18 Dundee

Sun Dec 26 Ross County Wed Dec 29 St Johnstone Sun Jan 2 Hibs Wed Jan 26 Celtic Sat Jan 29 Motherwell

Sat Feb 5 Rangers Wed Feb 9 Dundee Sat Feb 19 St Johnstone

Sat Feb 26 St Mirren Wed Mar 2 Aberdeen

Sat Mar 5 Dundee Utd Sat Mar 19 Livingston

Sat Apr 2 Ross County

Sat Apr 9 Hibs

SUBSTITUTES

McEneff b Boyce e Ginnelly a M-Steven c Walker Pollock Roberts Halliday Henderson Halliday d Boyce Pollock a M-Steven e McEneff Haring Henderson C Smith Denholm

Halliday Boyce d Haring a M-Steven c Gnanduillet Pollock Walker McEneff C Smith

Pollock b Boyce Gnanduillet c M-Steven Haring Walker Henderson

Baningime Boyce Halliday M-Steven a Haring Gnanduillet

Baningime Boyce c Haring M-Steven b Gnanduillet McEneff Henderson

Baningime Boyce pen Haring b M-Steven Ginnelly McEneff Walker

Baningime Boyce pen Haring b M-Steven b Walker McEneff Henderson

Baningime Boyce Haring M Steven b Ginnelly Gnanduillet T Moore

Baningime Boyce Haring M Steven a Ginnelly T Moore McKay Woodburn b Boyce Gnanduillet M Steven a Devlin Walker -

Woodburn Boyce pen a Devlin A Cochrane Gnanduillet Halliday M-Steven Haring Woodburn b Boyce pen Devlin A Cochrane Halliday M Steven Haring Woodburn a Boyce Devlin A Cochrane b Ginnelly Gnanduillet M-Steven Woodburn a Boyce b Devlin A Cochrane M-Steven Gnanduillet Ginnelly

Halliday Gnanduillet Devlin McKay b Woodburn M Steven -

Baningime Gnanduillet Devlin M-Steven b Woodburn McKay Halliday

Devlin Ginnelly b Woodburn 2 c A Cochrane M-Steven Gnanduillet McAneff Baningime c Ginnelly b Woodburn a McKay Boyce Gnanduillet McAneff Baningime c Boyce Devlin M-Steven a Ginnelly Gnanduillet Haring

McAneff b Ginnelly Devlin McKay Boyce M-Steven

McAneff Boyce c Devlin McKay T Moore Haring Gnanduillet

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES

13, 24, 28, 29 13, 20, 28, 29 13, 22, 28, 29 8, 27, 28, 34, 35,13 8, 22, 27, 38, 13 27, 34, 35, 13 22, 27, 35, 13 27, 35, 13 7, 8, 38, 13 14, 16, 21, 13 5, 8, 16, 17, 13 7, 8, 13 7, 21, 30, 13 5, 15, 16, 13 5, 15, 16, 13 5, 7, 15, 17, 13 5, 8, 15, 13 5, 7, 25, 13 5, 7, 11, 13 8, 9. 17, 13 15, 17, 21, 38, 13 7, 11, 30, 13

58 WWW.HEARTSFC.CO.UK WWW.HEARTSFC.CO.UK

FIRST TEAM

APPEARANCES 2021/22

PLAYER LEAGUE LEAGUE CUP SFA CUP TOTALS

STARTS SUBS GOALS STARTS SUBS GOALS STARTS SUBS GOALS STARTS SUBS GOALS

Craig GORDON 17 - 6* 5 - 4* - - - 22 - 10* Ross STEWART - - - - - - - - - - - Michael SMITH 15 - 1 5 - - - - - 20 - 1 Cammy LOGAN - - - - - - - - - - - Jamie BRANDON - - - - - - - - - - - Alex COCHRANE (L) 13 - 2 5 - - - - - 18 - 2 Stephen KINGSLEY 14 - 4 5 - - - - - 19 - 4 John SOUTTAR 15 - 3(1 4 - - - - - 19 - 3(1 Andy HALLIDAY 6 3 1 4 1 1 - - - 10 4 2 Craig HALKETT 16 - 1 5 - - - - - 21 - 1 Taylor MOORE (L) 5 3 - - - - - - - 5 3 Peter HARING 5 5 - 3 2 - - - - 8 7 Cammy DEVLIN 11 1 - - - - - - - 11 1 Beni BANINGIME 15 - - 1 - - - - - 16 - Ben WOODBURN (L) 11 2 2 - - - - - - 11 2 2 Scott McGILL $ - - - - - - - - - - - Aaron McENEFF 2 4 1 1 3 1 - - - 3 7 2 Gary MACKAY-STEVEN 8 7 2 5 - 2 - - - 13 7 4 Barrie McKAY 11 2 - - - - - - - 11 2 Jamie WALKER 0 2 - 0 4 1 - - - 0 6 1 Jordan ROBERTS $ - - - 0 1 - - - - 0 1 Josh GINNELLY 8 5 1 4 1 - - - - 12 6 1 Liam BOYCE 12 2 7(3 5 - 4(1 - - - 17 2 11(4 Armand GNANDUILLET 3 10 1 1 1 - - - - 4 11 1 Euan HENDERSON $ 0 2 - 0 3 - - - - 0 5 Connor SMITH $ - - - 0 2 - - - - 0 2 Finlay POLLOCK - - - 2 2 1 - - - 2 2 1 Aaron DARGE $ - - - - - - - - - - - -

Aidan DENHOLM - - - 0 1 - - - - 0 1 Leon WATSON - - - - - - - - - - - Chris HAMILTON $ - - - - - - — — — - - Mihal POPESCU $ - - - - - - - - - - - Loic DAMOUR $ - - - - - - - - - - - - Totals 187 48 26 55 21 10 - - - 242 69 36

$ Player on loan * Now left Club *Denotes shut out in goals column # Retired as player, now on Development Staff

UMBRO