Hearts turn up trumps as Skovdahl's men cave in

IT was like turning the clock back to the bad old days for Aberdeen last night in a game in which they were totally outplayed by Hearts.

Afterwards, however, manager Ebbe Skovdahl made it clear that he would not tolerate such performances in the coming weeks in the fight against relegation. He was clearly angry at the way his side seemed to cave in as the game progressed. They lacked any sort of penetration up front.

They also do not have their problems to seek defensively, and basic errors at crucial times meant they made things hard for themselves. An early elementary defensive error involving their most experienced player, Jim Leighton, and full-back Jamie McAllister let in Colin Cameron to put the Tynecastle side ahead after only nine minutes.

After that, Skovdahl's team were left chasing the game, and such was their lack of fight in midfield they never looked like they would find a way back.

The lift the Pittodrie side must have got by playing in the CIS Insurance Cup final only three days ago seemed too quickly forgotten as they failed to compete with the Tynecastle side.

They remain firmly rooted at the bottom of the league and will have to tighten up at the back in particular to hold out any hope of climbing the table.

Hearts effectively killed Aberdeen off as early as the forty-seventh minute, when Gary Wales reacted first before the pedestrian defenders to knock the ball home from close-in.

With three minutes left, Steve Fulton added a third with a mis-hit shot which sent Leighton the wrong way after good work by Darren Jackson, but long before that the game was over.

Skovdahl has his work cut .out to get his side up for their game against Dundee United at Tannadice on Saturday as they failed to create that many chances, and the ones that did come their way were squandered.

The first Hearts goal was symptomatic of the type of evening they had.

Gordan Petric played a long, hopeful ball that McAllister and Leighton seemed to have under control, despite the presence of Cameron.

However, there was a serious breakdown in communication between the two with the goalkeeper rushing to the edge of the area in anticipation of picking the ball up. But his full-back had other ideas and thought Leighton was still on his line and headed the ball back towards the empty net leaving his goalkeeper stranded and giving Cameron the simplest of tasks to score.

Their second goal just after half-time came when Thomas Flogel rose unchallenged to meet a Darren Jackson corner with Wales latching on to the knock down.

Until then, Aberdeen had at least tried to compete with Hearts and Arild Stavrum had had two half-chances to pull a goal back. However, after the second goal the fight seem to go out of them and they retreated into a shell, more content on keeping the score down than trying to make chances of their own.

It is that attitude which Skovdahl will have to rectify if he wants his side to climb away from the bottom of the table.

From a Hearts point of view, the win puts them in the driving seat to secure third place in the league and the UEFA cup spot which comes with it.

With their nearest challengers, Motherwell, going to Tynecastle on Saturday another win against them will put Jim Jefferies side seven points ahead of the Fir Park outfit and with that lead they will be difficult to catch.

One doubt for them on Saturday will be Niemi, who picked up a groin strain after catching his studs on the turf five minutes before half-time and had to be replaced by Roddy McKenzie.

The stand-in goalkeeper had precious little to do such was the paucity of the Aberdeen attack.

Afterwards, Skovdahl talked of his disappointment at the way his side had performed.

He refused to attribute blame for the mistake which led to the first Hearts goal, claiming such misunderstandings between goalkeepers and defenders happen in football.

Skovdahl said: ''It was a very disappointing night for us. I felt we started okay, but we have to play more as a team rather than as a group of individuals.

''Sometimes we were running 30 yards to close down players and our passes were going astray, and that is not the way I want my team to play.

''I don't expect things to go on like this because we can't afford it.''

Skovdahl said he told his team before kick-off he would not accept any excuses about them being tired because of their cup final match earlier this week.

''I told them they could not afford any cup hangovers,'' said Skovdahl.

''Everybody involved with the club knew Dundee had beaten Hibs last night and that Kilmarnock had taken a point at

St Johnstone on Saturday.

''We knew the pressure was on us and we needed to get a result here. I know I have the players who can cope with the pressure in the coming weeks, but we have to play better football than we did against Hearts.''

The Aberdeen manager said that in the coming weeks his side would have to show more fighting qualities.

Hearts manager Jefferies said he was delighted at the result, especially due to the fact he made four changes to the side which had lost to Hibs on Saturday and had also changed the formation.

He singled out for special mention Lee Makel, who has been on the fringes of first team duty.

''I thought Lee had a great game, and at one stage during the season he maybe thought he was on the way out of Tynecastle,'' said Jefferies.

''However, you can't forget that Kenny Dalglish paid #500,000 to take him from Newcastle to Blackburn Rovers and he is still only 26 years old, so he still has a great future for us.''

As well as Makel, the other two players who have spent most of the season on the sidelines, Stephane Adam and Steve Fulton, performed well. Adam, in particular was in good form and lasted the pace well, considering it was his first start since the turn of the year.

Fulton also put in a good shift, his goal near the end with a

mis-hit shot being his first of the season.

Clearly, Skovdahl will have to dig deep into his managerial experience to turn things round for Aberdeen, and there are signs that their recent good form could just be a false dawn.

Hearts - Niemi, Flogel, Pressley, Petric, Naysmith, Jackson, Cameron, Makel, Fulton, Wales, Adam. Substitutes - McKenzie, McSwegan, Simpson, Tomaschek, Severin.

Aberdeen - Leighton, Lilley, Solberg, Anderson, Young, Mayer, Bernard, McAllister, Dow, Stavrum, Winters. Substitutes - Preece, Jess, McGuire, Rutkiewicz, Belabed.

Referee - W Young.