LET’S just say this wasn’t the choreographed send-off that Hearts had planned for the oldest stand in Scottish football.
The bulldozers will move in this week to tear down the famous Archibald Leitch-designed main stand at Tynecastle but the party atmosphere was spoiled somewhat by some of the club’s supporters marking the occasion by tearing strips off the club’s head coach Ian Cathro.
This defeat to Aberdeen wasn’t exactly a demolition job, but that is now six wins in 23 matches, a run of results poor enough for boos, jeers and invective to rain down on the former Newcastle United assistant both when he replaced Don Cowie with Bjorn Johnsen during the second period and when he thanked the fans for their support on a rather cringe-worthy and sparsely-attended lap of honour afterwards.
Their mood wasn’t exactly helped by the fact that Aberdeen, who were lording it up on the field after clinching second place in the Ladbrokes Premiership for the third successive season, had trailed Hearts when Cathro inherited this side from Robbie Neilson.
Opened on the eve of the Great War in 1914, for more than a century this famous structure has provided one of the best vantage points in Scottish football, if not perhaps quite so much for the owner of the restricted view seat directly behind a pillar in front of the press box. From an epic Uefa Cup triumph against Bayern Munich during the 1980s to the attack on Neil Lennon, it has witnessed its fair share of highlights and lowlights. A state-of-the-art 6000 seater stand will be fully operational by September and Cathro’s hopes are pinned upon having a more smoothly functioning team on the park by then.
On the Cowie substitution specifically, he said: “I think it’s clear that we wanted to change a midfield player for a striker. Everybody knows the reason for that. Don is one of our most important players, quite possibly the most important, for a whole number of reasons.”
Game 2253 in front of this famous old stand, though, belonged to an energetic and determined Aberdeen team. Derek McInnes name-checked a 50-yard dash from right back Shay Logan to overhaul Bjorn Johnsen in the dying minutes when Kenny McLean had been caught up the field. For all the talent on the field yesterday, it was that kind of game.
Aberdeen threw bodies forward with abandon from the start and had the lead when Jack Hamilton could only palm out a strike from man of the match Graeme Shinnie that Adam Rooney, the arch Aberdonian predator, gleefully knocked in.
Hearts forced the issue more after the break and Esma Goncalves got them back on level terms with a header from a fine Liam Smith cross. The old Tynecastle crackle was briefly back, but instead it was the home side who caved in.
Jonny Hayes swung over a free-kick and substitute Anthony O’Connor climbed well to direct a looping header past Hamilton. Cathro said afterwards that the goal “created a mood” and the vibes weren’t positive for the home side. Jamie Walker said goodbye to the main stand a couple of minutes earlier than everyone else, being dismissed by Willie Collum after receiving his second booking in the 90th minute for lunging in to stop another break from Shinnie.
“The fans have the right to be unhappy and frustrated, and they are,” conceded Cathro afterwards. “They are disappointed and angry. The results that are normal to Hearts haven’t been achieved. The consistency hasn’t been there.”
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