Another game I couldn’t attend, so here’s my thoughts on the Betfred League Cup game between Cowdenbeath and Hearts as I watched online in 3 Faces Of Foleys pub-shed.
Massive thanks to Brian Wilson for the stream so I could take in the game from East Fife’s Bayview Stadium, played here as Central Park could not be used due to flooding. Made it a little less painful to watch from home as I’ve always wanted to visit Central Park due to the unique stock car track around the pitch.
No idea what happened in the first 10 minutes as there was some trouble with the feed from the stadium. Could have been the best 10 minutes Hearts will play this season but we will never know….We had a picture but oddly no commentary or sound, better than nothing though I guess.
So now we were watching the game, Hearts looked comfortable passing the ball about the plastic pitch but seemed slow getting forward in attack, which was surprising seeing that we had both Ginnelly and Roberts on the park. Early on though Jordan Roberts looked sharp and like he could really add something to Hearts game. Captain Steven Naismith was putting in a shift battling for every ball and keeping the side ticking over as always.
During the first half it was mainly Hearts game to win and they did well to keep the Cowdenbeath chances down to set pieces but the Jambos just weren’t making the most of their control on the game. Strangely after his great debut in midweek Ginnelly was pretty quiet in the first half out wide as the main source of play was going through Roberts.
Jamie Walker had a golden chance to take the lead but missed a diving header from close range, to be honest was expecting him to break the deadlock. Then after a mistake from their goal kick we failed to take advantage and the attack faded to nothing.
We had the Blue Brazil penned back into their half and easily coping with everything they had in the way of attacks. But it looked as though the Jambo’s were missing an out and out striker in the game and needed to start taking chances.
Not the best of first halves to be fair to both sides as the game had the feeling of a pre-season friendly of sorts. Hearts were dominant but just lacked that finishing touch and went in scoreless at half time.
As we returned for the second half we were welcomed to commentary and sound from the pitch. Got to admit though I enjoyed listening to Brian slagging his pal from Canada more than the commentary to be honest, a highlight being the mention of yellow snow haha.
Robbie Neilson made a change at half time bringing Wighton in for Naismith, which would give us a striker to hopefully find the breakthrough. Early into the half and Ginnelly was brought down in the box but no penalty was awarded. By the way messers Roberts and Ginnelly played as the half went on I think we could see these pair as our men out wide this season and could cause plenty of Championship teams problems. The pair worked well together to create a chance as Roberts put in a great ball but unluckily Ginnelly header over with Hearts best chance of the game so far. The pair even managed to switch sides of the park to try to confuse the Cowdenbeath defence.
As the second half wore on Hearts began to give away stupid free kicks for hand balls and silly fouls, also continuing to waste any chance they had going forward.
The young lad McGill can be proud of his debut in maroon as he put in a tidy shift in the middle of the park, he was replaced for another debutant in Elliot Frear. Chances kept coming for the Jam Tarts as Wighton had a header blocked and from the block Roberts volleyed just wide, it really felt like whatever we did a Blue shirt got in the way. As frustrating as that was we weren’t helping ourselves as we were wasting our set pieces and attacks were ending in nothing.
After some good work from Lee who found Jamie Walker, saw our number 7 go really close from near the edge of the box. Must admit our midfield looked decent in parts today, I’m sure all the pieces of the puzzle will fall into place after a few competitive league games.
With just over 10 minutes left to play, the Jambos won a corner which was taken by substitute Frear and the new boy whipped in a great ball and Halkett was there like he was many a time last season to head into the net, not going to lie I jumped off the sofa in the pub shed like we had just won the cup. 1-0 to Hearts, something else to be happy about came minutes later as Peter Haring came off the bench again which was a great thing to see as I think he is an important player for us.
Late in the game as Hearts broke Jamie Walker was needlessly hacked down, I was surprised that their man got away with a yellow and not red. As we played into injury time Roberts worked into the box and was pushed down, penalty to Hearts. With Walker bagging a penalty against Caley he was the right man for the spot kick, but to my surprise the home keeper got down to his right and made the save.
The game ended 1-0 to Hearts, not a game that will live long in Jambo memories but another win and another clean sheet. A few positives from the game were Gordon looked solid when called upon, we looked assured at the back and seem more confident than last season by a country mile. I think we really need to bring in another striker as the depth isn’t the greatest and unfortunately I really don’t see Wighton being the back up for Boyce.
My Man Of The Match was Craig Halkett, not just for getting the winning goal but when he was needed at the back he did the job asked of him and in a way controlled the defence.
Player Ratings
Gordon – 6
Brandon – 6
Popescu -6
Halkett -8
White – 6
Ginnelly – 6
Lee – 5
McGill – 6
Walker – 7
Roberts – 7
Naismith – 6
Frear – 7
Haring – 6
Wighton – 5
Two games coming up this week, both at home. We play Raith in the Betfred Cup on Tuesday and then Dundee on Friday in the Championship opener. A win against Raith will see us through in the cup and we all know the reasons why the Dundee game is a huge one.
Thanks for reading my thoughts on Hearts against Cowdenbeath.
Daz Carding
Football Days With A Salopian Jambo 