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5/4/03 Dundee Utd (Home)
A hard fought match with not a lot of talking points. An average performance on the whole with only Andy Webster impressing. Vital three points and will give the players a boost going into the Partick game.
12/4/03 Partick Thistle (Away)
Hearts arrived at Firhill knowing they had the opportunity to go 6 points ahead of Kilmarnock, who played Celtic 24 hours later. An excellent travelling support watched this game. For the second time this season, all the noise came from the Hearts fans at Firhill. The atmosphere died down soon after kick-off, though, as both teams started the game sluggishly. Chance were few and far between in an extremely dull first half. Mark de Vries had a header wide, and Kenny Arthur had to be alert to keep out a cross-cum-shot from Valois. Meanwhile, Partick’s best chance fell to veteran striker Gerry Brittain, who shot wide of Tepi Moilanen’s post. The restless support were treated to equally bad football in the second half. Andy Kirk went close to opening the scoring soon after the restart. After cleverly turning past the Partick defence, his shot was well saved by Arthur. Despite further Hearts pressure, it was Thistle who drew first blood. A cross to the back post was met by the head of Jamie Mitchell, who’s effort was deemed to have crossed the line despite Moilanen’s best efforts to keep it out. The home support was almost heard after that, but where soon silenced again. Phil Stamp’s corner eluded everybody at the near post, and was headed in powerfully by the returning captain Steven Pressley, much to the joy of the travelling support. Both teams had chances to get a winner, but neither team was able to succeed. The away support were sent home unsatisfied, Hearts unable to get the win that neither team deserved. The point is definitely useful, though, as now Hearts have a 4 point gap over Killie, which can be extended if Hearts manage to pull off an upset against
19/4/03 Celtic (Home)
Hearts went into this game knowing that an upset today would put them seven points above Kilmarnock going into the last five games. Hearts were definitely up for the game and their fight was shown early on with Phil Stamp getting booked for a late tackle on Johan Mjallby. The first real chance of the match fell to Hearts after 15 minutes when Mark de Vries muscled his way past Balde, but his close range shot was way off target. Celtic took the lead almost immediately after that miss. Henrik Larsson intercepted a poor pass from Pressley and set up Alan Thompson for the shot, which was acrobatically saved by Tepi Moilanen. Hearts nearly broke the deadlock right on half time when de Vries linked up superbly with Graham Weir, but once again his shot went over the bar. Both teams looked lively as the second half started, and Hearts once again created the first chance. Andy Webster sent Stamp through, but his shot was blocked by Balde after Douglas was beaten. From the resulting corner, Douglas had to be alert to keep out a bulleting left foot volley by Alan Maybury. Celtic replied instantly with the opening goal. Didier Agathe got the better of Austin McCann on the wing, and crossed for Larsson to score his 21st goal against Hearts in his Celtic career. Hearts refused to lie down after that, and found an equaliser on 73 minutes. Pressley's free-kick was missed by everybody in the middle, and Scott Severin's cutback was hit in by Phil Stamp. The home fans encouraged Hearts to get a second, which they almost got immediately. De Vries headed Austin McCann's cross towards goal, but Mjallby cleared off the line. Then Valois saw his volley cannon off the crossbar, as Hearts kept pressing. Both teams made changes and had chances, but it was Hearts who deservedly took the 3 points at the end. A Celtic free-kick was taken away by Severin, who ran towards te Celtic box. He chose to pass to McCann, who smashed the ball first time in off the far post from 25 yards out to send the home fans ballistic. Hearts were delighted when the final whistle sounded. They had severely dented Celtic's title hopes, and put themselves closer to booking a spot in next years UEFA cup.
26/4/03 Dunfermline (Away)
Hearts travelled to East End Park on the back of a superb victory against the reigning champions at Tynecastle. The 1-0 victory was a very hard fought one, on a pitch that would not allow free passing. Hearts were the better team in the first half, but with very poor refereeing struggled to create anything due to Mark De Vries being penalised every time he touched the ball. After the interval both teams came out fired up but Hearts always looked deadlier going forward. The breakthrough finally came when Mark De Vries was fouled inside the Dunfermline penalty area, Elvis cooly keeping his 100% record in penalties to give Hearts the lead. The away team gave the Hearts fans something else to shout about as Mark De Vries slotted home another goal, only to have it chopped off for hand-ball. Webster was by clear man of the match, with MacFarlane and McCann also impressing. Severin seemed uninterested at times, and really should be doing us a favour after all, Hearts made him the player he is today.
3/5/03 Killie (Away)
Kilmarnock kept their hopes of UEFA cup qualification alive with a controvertial victory over Hearts at Rugby Park. A strong away support were treated to a poor first half performance by Hearts, as they struggled to get past a stubborn Killie defence. When Hearts did get past the Kilmarnock backline, Graham Weir was upended by the ample frame of Gordon Marshall. What seemed like a stonewall penalty was ignored by Dougie McDonald, a taste of things to come for Hearts. Minutes later, Kilmarnock broke away to score the all-important goal. Andy McLaren weaved his way past Austin McCann, and chis cross was met at the back post by ex-Jambo Gary McSwegan, who headed past Tepi Moilanen into the far corner. Into the second half, and Killie should have doubled their lead straight away. Chris Innes beat Webster to cross to Andy McLaren, who was unmarked un the six yard box, but managed to screw his shot wide of the post. Steven Boyack came on for the injured Jean Louis Valois after 55 minutes, and almost made an immediate impact. The cross from Stamp came all the way across to Boyack, but his shot was blocked by Marshall. The game then descended into a farce, as Dougie McDonald showed his true colours (which were apparantly blue and white). Firstly, Alan Maybury and Andy Webster were booked in the space of a minute for getting the ball. This booking proved fatal for Webster, as he recieved a second booking minutes later for apparantly catching the goal bound McLaren. Hearts nearly scraped an equalliser towards the end, when the ball made it's way towards recent hero Austin McCann, but he hit the side netting from the difficult angle. It didn't get any better for McCann or Hearts in the final minute. Austin McCann was the second Hearts player to be red-carded after his late tackle on Paul Di Giacimo. The referee baffled many by not punishing Di Giacimo for raising his hands in retaliation for McCann's tackle, but judging by the reeree's overall performance, it wasn't surprising. The Hearts fans gave their side a round of applause at the final whistle, despite the result, showing that although this is a blow for Hearts, the fans are still confident that Hearts will clinch the crucial UEFA cup spot.
10/5/03 Celtic (Away)
Hearts, not for the first time, filled the away end, confident of beating Celtic for the second time in a month. Celtic looked sharper as the game started, Stilian Petrov hitting the ball over the bar from distance after 5 minutes. Hearts showed that they weren't going to be pushovers though minutes later. Kevin McKenna showed great skill to turn Johan Mjallby and found space to shoot, but his powerful drive was saved by Javier Sanchez Broto. The match's turning point occurred after 29 minutes, when Celtic won a penalty that was softer than a Neil Lennon punch. Chris Sutton got on the end of Didier Agathe's cross, and fell like a sack of spuds when Pressley breathed on the back of his neck. Alan Thompson stepped up, and squeezed the ball past Tepi Moilanen to give Celtic the lead. The game plodded on in the second half, with both teams creating few chances. Substitute Stephen Simmons had a glorious chance to level the match, but went for power instead of accuracy, and sent the ball into the stand. Celtic had a late chance to give them a more comfortable victory, but Didier Agathe's effort came crashing off the underside of the crossbar. The home fans breathed a sigh of relief as the final whistle sounded. Hearts had put up a brave performance, but left Parkhead with nothing. Hearts fans remained positive, though, as they know that Europe is still in their own hands, and they had to hope that Kilmarnock would turn out to be losers at Ibrox.
18/5/03 Rangers (Home)
Hearts unexpectedly fielded a full strength team, with Craig Levein's cooments on Friday regarding the Killie game most expected to see a skeleton Hearts side. Hearts more than matched Rangers for the first hour, but failed to take their chances, with Rangers on the back foot. However, Hugh Dallas awarded the light blues a penalty, and not for the first time. Not for the first time also, Rangers failed to convert it. This missed looked costly at the time but proved to fire Rangers up even more and they took the lead shortly after through De Boer. Hearts seemed to let the heads go down after this and Craig Levein removed Elvis from the action as a precaution, he seemed to go down heavily after a Lorenzo Amoruso challenge. Rangers added to their tally with ten minutes to go, Hearts having long given up. A dissapointing game in which Hearts should really have scored their first goal against Rangers this season.
25/5/03 Dundee (Home)
Hearts fielded a slightly weakened team for the visit of Dundee, already in the knowledge that UEFA cup qualification was virtually a guarentee. A poor attendance was at hand for the game which really did have an 'end of season' feel to it. Both teams had their share of chances, but none of their chances were clear-cut. The best chance went the way of Hearts on the half-hour. The departing Scott Severin played the ball to youngster Joe Hammill on the left wing. His perfect cross was met by the head of Hearts' top scorer Mark de Vries, but his diving header went just wide of Julian Speroni's far post. During the half-time interval, Hearts were introduced to new signings Paul Hartley and Dennis Wyness, a sign that the Jambos are going out to improve their performance next season, and embark on what is hopefully a lengthy European stint. Into the second half, and Hearts made 3 changes in the first 20 minutes. Graham Weir was replaced by Gary Wales, the promising Joe Hammill was replaced by Jean-Louis Valois, and Austin McCann was replaced by Stephane Mahe, who was playing his final match for Hearts, after announcing that he was retiring at the end of this season. And, fittingly, it was Mahe who set up the only goal of the game. The Frenchman made his way down the left wing, skinning Jonay Hernandez in the process, and crossing majestically for de Vries to head home his 15th goal of the season. Dundee never looked like equalising, and should have finished the game with 10 men, after Fabian Caballero clearly elbowed Andy Webster in the face. The referee's decision may have been affected by the fact that Caballero would have been suspended for next weeks cup final had he seen red. In the end, the de Vries goal was enough to end the season with a victory. The Hearts players re-emerged after the final whistle to praise the fans, who had helped the team on their way to a successful season, which has ended with them making a return to European football after a 3 year absence.
30/7/03 Sunderland (Home)
Hearts v Sunderland
Hearts supporters got their first chance to see the new Hearts side at
Tynecastle, as they
entertained a Sunderland team which had brought along a large, vocal
support. Both teams
created chances in a scrappy first 20 minutes, with Mark de Vries going
close for the
Jambos, and ex-Ipswich and ex-decent striker Marcus Stewart failing in front
of goal for the
Black Cats. It was Hearts who managed to draw first blood after 25 minutes,
when de Vries'
header back was volleyed by Phil Stamp (who was booed by the away support
for his
Middlesboro roots) and beat Estonian international 'keeper Mart Poom from 25
yards. Hearts
grew in confidence after that, and where able to create more chances, Dennis
Wyness being
denied by Poom from just inside the box. Hearts did grab a second goal just
before half-
time. Paul Hartley played an excellent cross-field ball to Joe Hammill,
who's perfect cross
was headed home at the back post by de Vries. Sunderland should have pulled
a goal back
right on half-time, but Scottish International lummox Kevin Kyle somehow
failed to beat
Craig Gordon from 4 yards.
Hearts were still brimming with confidence as the second half started.
Substitute Steven
Boyack played a perfect ball to the back post, but Wyness only connected
with air as the
ball ran past. The away fans were finally given something to cheer about
when substitute
Stuart Thornton curled a superb free kick past Gordon to make the score 2-1.
And minutes
later, Sunderland found an equaliser when Thornton got on the end of Jeff
Whitley's cross
to score his second. As the game came to a conclusion, Sunderland were
starting to get a
lot rougher with their tackles, even forcing the referee to show a yellow
card to Irish
international Jason McAteer. Hearts had a late chance to win the game, but
Steven Pressley
placed his header just wide of the far post. In the end, Hearts had to
settle for a 2-2
draw, but Hearts showed some of the qualities needed for a successful new
campaign.
TEAM: Gordon, Maybury, McCann (McLeod), Pressley, Webster, Severin, Hartley
(Boyack), Stamp
(Kisnorbo), de Vries, Wyness (Weir), Hammill (McFarlane).