HEARTS 1 PARTICK TH 1 Mayhem, chaos, anxiety & nerves
Cathro sums up his frustrating first day at Tynecastle
Ian Cathro believes his big Tynecastle bow was broken by chaos and mayhem.
After losing his opening game to Rangers seven days previously, the Hearts gaf fer’s f irst home adventure also ended in acrimony with his decisions being booed and hi s player s heckled at full-time.
Bjorn Johnsen’s header had Cathro savouring day one in Gorg ie but Sean Welsh’s second- half equaliser turned the tide and the mood as Hearts fell apart in the second period.
Cathro said: “We managed to control bits of the play in the first half which was what we were looking to do. But when the game is swinging Hearts Partick Thistle your way you probably need to do a bit more damage than we did.
“Second half we were forced to change some things, we had to play differently and that resulted in the game being very broken .
“Mayhem, a little bit of Scottish chaos, some anxiety, nervousness and mistakes as well.
“At that point it becomes a really difficult cycle to be able to break.”
Cathro will need to get used to the rough and tumble of the Premiership because if he can’t get his team to cope with scrappy, broken games, there’s further disappointment around the corner. For a half yesterday it was perfect for Cathro. For the second half it was dismal.
Hearts took the lead when Liam Smith arched in a beautiful cross that Johnsen glanced into the net. Thi s t le keeper Tomas Cerny made a brilliant save from Arnaud Djoum then Igor Rossi thundered a header off the bar.
You just couldn’t see the second-half turnaround coming and even though Cathro pointed to a calf injury that kept Prince Buaben inside at half-time and brought a reshuffle, it was more than that.
Basically, Hearts lost their way the moment Welsh level led as Ryan Edwards’ cross from the left was met beautifully by the midfielder’s head.
From being in control, Hearts lost their composure and confidence.
Thistle pounded the home goal and in a frantic finale Jack Hamilton made brilliant saves from sub Chris Erskine and Kris Doolan.
Erskine said: “People will think it’s down to Hearts not getting started under their new manager but there wasn’t much in the first half and after the break we were the top team. It feels like two points dropped.