Graeme Smith was back in goal and he produced a series of first class saves to keep us in the game. In addition to his fearless smothering at the feet of onrushing forwards his speed on the ground has developed an extra dimension to our defensive abilities.
Hamilton pushed by Pressley (again)
Craigan also returned to duty in central defence although he had no captain’s armband until O’Donnell was replaced by Foran on the half hour. There was no score at this stage although within minutes, keeper Smith produced a fine block followed by a good save from a thirty yard free kick.
Five minutes before the break one of our rare attacks broke down in the Hearts’ six yard box. With our defence out of position they broke up the right wing and Skacel was allowed to run in on goal. On this occasion the keeper was beaten and we regrouped at the interval.
Kerr and Smith
Bednar had an opportunity to score at the start of the second half. Our back line lost the race for the corner kick and his powerful, downward header rose over the bar.
With twenty minutes remaining Clarkson replaced McDonald and five minutes later we fell two behind after a hand ball claim was denied by referee Thomson. Hearts retained possession and Janauskas scored. The game now seemed out of reach.
We were handed a lifeline when Lynas grabbed a handful of
We had our chances. The first was lost when Fagan and Hamilton both managed only sclaffed efforts from close in and the second came with the last kick of the ball when Clarkson fired a great shot from fifteen yards only to see Gordon produce a match winning save.
Our much maligned defence performed well. They coped admirably with the threat of the Gorski foreigners and can look forward to a fortnight away from league business.