PAYING PENALTY
Hearts fans turn on boss Cathro after feeble exit
IN a week of the Hearts handshake controversy, it is one of the golden variety the Tynecastle fans now consider the only option for Ian Cathro. The pay-off that would put both camps in this division out of their misery even before the league campaign commences.
Cathro was quick to congratulate former Hearts winger and current Dunfermline boss Allan Johnston at full-time — a gesture that Peterhead boss Jim McInally berated the Hearts head coach for failing to perform post-match in midweek — that it appeared he had forgotten the other formalities.
A draw in the Betfred Cup means penalty kicks to decide bonus points. In this case, meaningless ones for the top-flight team.
Hearts were already out of the competition before three out of their four kicks in the shoot-out sailed over the crossbar and handed Dunfermline progress from Group B as winners of the section.
To make matters worse, the theatre only prolonged the now very public agony for the embattled head coach.
Fans had started streaming down the steps and jeering at the final whistle and were in pole position leaning over the rails to dole out more abuse to Cathro as the spotkicks were hoofed into the stand.
This was not the only moment where the young manager looked beyond help. Torrential rain and unforgiving scorn poured down on Cathro early in the second half after Dunfermline had taken a 2-1 lead through Declan McManus.
The visiting fans started the predictable ‘Sacked In The Morning’ chants. A few Hearts supporters in the Wheatfield Stand joined in. From such scenes, there is rarely a way back for a manager. Certainly not for one who started badly eight months ago and has shown no signs of making improvements.
Dunfermline were without main marksman Nicky Clark who will be absent for the start of the Championship season because of ankle surgery. But there was no fear for the second tier side because this Hearts lot are a team everyone wants to play right now.
There is a nervousness apparent in their work that just will not budge and even taking a lead failed them this time.
Hearts turned to two experienced operators to calm the home crowd down, albeit briefly, with the 20th-minute lead. Target man Kyle Lafferty was the provider, picking out Don Cowie’s run with an accurate, raking diagonal ball that connected 20 yards out.
Before Dunfermline could close him down, Cowie opted to go for an early hit. Right foot and right decision as Cowie’s crack evaded the dive of Sean Murdoch to settle low into the far corner of the net.
Drawing first blood was no signpost to Hearts establishing a foothold in the contest or gathering rhythm.
The visitors were all over Hearts’ efforts to build from the back, panicking errors out of Prince Buaben and Arnaud Djoum just to increase the air of uncertainty surrounding Tynecastle.
Joe Cardle had troubled the hosts before the Cowie strike when, under pressure from John Souttar, an unclean connection helped Jack Hamilton gather.
But on 28 minutes, Souttar was beaten out of sight by the Dunfermline man’s swivel as the visitors equalised. Cardle collected from Kallum Higginbotham just inside the area with his back to goal. Once Souttar was floored by his movement, Cardle produced a stunning finish on the turn to beat Hamilton at his right-hand post.
For all that Hearts weren’t impressing, they should have taken a lead in at the break. Murdoch’s one-handed diversion of a Buaben dig for a corner was impressive.
The Dunfermline keeper’s reactions were even better to prevent Callum Morris flashing an header past his own keeper from the corner.
Rangers target Jamie Walker was not included on account of transfer speculation ‘affecting his focus’, according to Cathro who clearly had few fears over the mentality of Jamie Brandon.
The 19-year-old was rewarded with a debut at Celtic Park in May on the last day of the season and deployed wide right here.
An intelligent exchange with Lafferty teed up Cowie and only a last-ditch lunge from Morris stopped the Hearts skipper threatening another goal.
The teenage terror in the visiting ranks, however, was the one with the cutting edge that mattered more. After a terrific counter attack, exciting 17-year-old Callum Smith was able to steal past poor Souttar and slide in McManus.
The striker steadied himself before firing past Hamilton from the heart of the area and sparking fury in the home ranks.
Christophe Berra raged with Souttar, then a mixture of boos and cheers greeted the young defender’s immediate substitution as Krystian Nowak replaced him. Incredibly, Nowak was no better.
As clinical as Dunfermline were, Hearts were chronic in front of goal. Nowak’s wild slice of a shot when team-mates begged for a delivery into the box and a pathetic Esmael Goncalves pass looking for sub Cole Stockton attracted howls of derision. And rightly so.
Belief has long been sucked out of this project. The rescue mission was all about desperation. Lafferty arrived late on to a Cowie corner with a sweet first-time shot but Murdoch got down smartly on his line to bat away.
Nate Wedderburn cleared off the line from Lafferty, Cardle did the same from Jordan McGhee. Then a deep Malaury Martin free-kick — a defender’s nightmare — was nodded goalwards by Berra.
Goncalves then bundled the equaliser over the line from a yard.
But there was still time for an astonishing Hearts miss. A dismal corner kick somehow landed at the feet of Stockton. From three yards, he spun and shot wide.
That set the tone for the Hearts penalties. McGhee, Martin and Cowie blazed over, with only Lafferty succeeding off a post.
Michael Paton, Scott Lochhead and Wedderburn netted for Dunfermline as McManus saw his kick saved by Hamilton.