Hugely unexpected but also unexpected win yesterday. The conditions were abysmal for most of the game and I feared the worst when the announcer told people to hold on to their ticket stubs in case the game was called off!
Overall I was very disappointed with Hearts who offered very little in the final third of the pitch. The seemed reasonable enough at the back but how that team scored five goals last week is beyond me. In the first half we were able to limit them to a very tame effort from Templeton as well as that thunderous strike from Hammil which smashed off the crossbar. We on the other hand were creating a good number of chances which went begging thanks in part to poor finishing and solid keeping from Kello.
Hayes in particular was a menace as he tore the Hearts left side to pieces throughout the opening 20 minutes. Barr probably should have been sent off after rugby tackling Hayes, which resulted in a yellow card, then following it up with a scything tackle on the same player on the touchline which, for some reason, went unpunished. Foran, Hayes, Sutherland and Tade all threatened to open the scoring but Kello was equal to their efforts or they squirmed wide of target.
In the second half we found ourselves playing into the wind and I expected to see Hearts threaten more but whilst they enjoyed a wee bit more of the ball than they did in the first half we still created the better openings. Tansey and Hayes were the main creative forces for us and it was from a smart and direct run from Hayes that saw us opening the scoring. He drove right at the Hearts right back before standing a ball up into the box and Sutherland arrived to header down underneath the diving Kello. A fully deserved lead for ICT. The poor weather almost saw Kello caught out twice as cross cum hopeful shots looped over him and one, from Sutherland, struck the bar. The Hammil handball penalty appeal was an interesting one. At first he chests it back to Kello but then, as he falls over, the ball hits his arm. The referee needs to decide if, amongst other things, it was deliberate. It was a very difficult one to call but I was certainly appealing for it at the game.
Hearts best effort, up to this point, had come from an Ian Black free kick. As the majority of players headed towards the back post Black fired a shot in towards the near post nearly catching Esson off guard but he did well to hold on in difficult conditions. By this time Suso Santan had come on meaning Hearts had two very pacey wingers on either side but both Meekings and Gillet, the latter in particular, snuffed out the threat of the Hearts wide men. Skacel lashed a shot over the bar and there was the Templeton penalty shout which, from my view, looked like he had slipped before there was any contact from Meekings anyway, but ICT were able to hold on to grab the three points.
Looking at ICT specifically Hayes, Tansey and Gillet were absolutely outstanding. Hayes direct running caused Hearts problems all day as they didn't know how to stop him aside from employing Real Madrid style tactics to stop Messi i.e. kick the sh
it out of him. Tansey covered almost every inch of grass as he helped shield the defence and then was at the other end of the pitch helping to set up chances for his team mates. Gillet, having moved back to LB from CB, dealt well with the pacey and tricky Santana when he came on having previously nullified any Hearts attacks coming down his side. Foran again did well in his new midfield role and it was good to see Sutherland get a game although he took a wee while to come into things. The new lad Williams at the back was composed, solid in the tackle and distributed the ball well and Meekings continues to show excellent potential with another assured display. In fact, considering it was yet another back line for us they were remarkably solid throughout the game.
Overall a very impressive ICT performance coupled with a pretty poor Hearts display. Hopefully we can keep this run going against St. Mirren next week.
This post has been edited by RiG: 22 January 2012 - 11:02
dan_ict, on 21 January 2012 - 22:54, said:
although I'm sure we can overcome that wee hurdle with his excess of CLASS 
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