THE FINE LINES
Hearts still bottom after blowing two late chances
TWO chances deep in time added-on. Two fresh-air swipes. Three points now separating bottom-placed Hearts from the team above them.
Added to 10-man Hamilton Accies netting a last-gasp winner of their own, the conclusion of this score draw is not something manager Daniel Stendel will want to relive any time soon.
Hearts didn’t deserve to win over the balance of play. However, so clear were their opportunities to score in those closing stages that they should have.
First up, great work involving Jamie Walker and Conor Washington saw the ball cut across goal to Steven Naismith. The captain swung with his right foot from a few yards out, missed and saw the ball ricochet off his standing leg to safety.
Moments later, Liam Boyce moved on to a cross from the left from fellow substitute Ryo Meshino. He moved his right foot forward, saw the ball skid off it and end up miles over the bar after a speculative effort from Michael Smith to his right.
And that was that. Nothing more than a point to show for their toil after Washington had cancelled out Christopher Long’s opener at the start of the second period and a stern reminder served ahead of Wednesday’s trip to St Mirren that squandering gilt-edged openings in the midst of a relegation battle is not going to get you far.
‘The ball was slightly behind me and pretty high, but it was a chance — and we had a couple,’ admitted Naismith. ‘On the whole, though, it has been a very good week and we are content with the performance.
‘Yes, of course you need to take chances but, two weeks ago, we weren’t creating any.
‘In the games before, there was a nervousness about our play and we got sucked into making it end-toend. The way we are playing now, we have to be confident and midweek is a six-pointer.
‘It is going to turn into that every week, but the last three performances have shown that we have character.’
In the early stages, it certainly looked like being another one of those afternoons for Hearts.
Just before the 15-minute mark, Sean Clare spotted Motherwell goalkeeper Mark Gillespie off his line and beat him with a shot from distance that Allan Campbell, taken off injured shortly afterwards, cleared off the line.
Before the home side had regained their composure, they had gone behind. And impressive as Long’s finish was, the blame has to lie with centre-half Craig Halkett.
He was caught in possession inside his own half when trying to play a pass and Long did well to get the ball under control, ride a challenge, round advancing keeper Bobby Zlamal and bury a low shot in the empty net from an angle.
Sensing victory in the offing, visiting manager Stephen Robinson could barely believe it just before the half-hour mark when Jermaine Hylton went down in the area and referee Don Robertson refused to give a penalty.
Yes, Hylton was moving away from goal at the time and might not have stopped the ball going out of play, but Zlamal clearly stuck out a leg and brought him crashing. No doubt about it.
‘You know that it should have been a penalty,’ acknowledged Robinson afterwards. ‘It was a two-footed tackle.
‘If you have the technology that other countries have, perhaps that helps the referees.
‘He thought Jermain was going down — and he probably was — but he’s been caught fully.
‘However, we’ve taken a point and it shows how far Motherwell have come that we are a little disappointed not to take three.’
By the time the interval arrived, Motherwell were very much in charge, looking to build on their midweek win over Ross County.
However, within four minutes of the restart, a resurgent Hearts, Liam Boyce having replaced Oli Bozanic, had got themselves back on level terms.
Naismith made it to the byeline on the left and fired in a low, hardsquare ball. Washington reacted first and stuck out a leg to divert it home from close range.
The home side never quite built on that momentum, though. Indeed, until those last-gasp opportunities for Naismith and Boyce during six minutes of time added-on, Motherwell had managed to carve out the better openings with Liam Polworth seeing a header saved by Zlamal and Hylton suffering as the keeper touched a rip-snorting halfvolley wide.
‘It was more of an own goal than a goal from Motherwell,’ reflected Tynecastle manager Stendel.
‘We wanted to do it too much and didn’t play with enough patience. The fight was great and the support was great, though. We didn’t look like a team at the bottom.’