Hearts 1 - 0 Inverness CT

League Match
Saturday, February 10th, 2007, 2:00 PM at Tynecastle Stadium, Edinburgh
Attendance: 16,631
Referee: Eddie Smith
Hearts Inverness CT

Goalscorers
Pospisil (82) None.

Team Managers
Anatoliy Korobochka Charlie Christie

Starting Eleven
Banks
Tall
Zaliukas
Berra
Fyssas
Kingston
Brellier
Driver
Klimek
Jankauskas
Elliot
Michael Fraser
Richard Hastings
Ross Tokely
Grant Munro
Darren Dods
Barry Wilson
Roy McBain
Russell Duncan
John Rankin
Graham Bayne
Rory McAllister

Bench
McCann
Bednar
Karipidis
Pospisil
Jonsson
Wallace
Kurskis
Ally Ridgers
Stuart McCaffrey
Stuart Soane
Ian Black
Alan Morgan
Markus Paatelainen
Gary McSwegan

Substitutions
Bednar -> Jankauskas (61)
Jonsson -> Elliot (73)
Pospisil -> Klimek (81)
Alan Morgan for John Rankin (63)
Gary McSwegan for Barry Wilson (85)

Bookings
Brellier (73) Roy McBain (44)

Red Cards
None. None.
Appearances & Goals To Date
Michael Fraser (GK) 9 apps -
Richard Hastings 288 apps2 goals
Darren Dods 102 apps6 goals
Ross Tokely 392 apps28 goals
Grant Munro 198 apps5 goals
Roy McBain 256 apps15 goals
John Rankin 28 apps5 goals
Russell Duncan 210 apps6 goals
Barry Wilson 300 apps78 goals
Rory McAllister 39 apps3 goals
Graham Bayne 92 apps15 goals
Alan Morgan (sub) 34 apps4 goals
Gary McSwegan (sub) 5 apps -

Starting Lineup
Youngest Player:Ross Tokely (27 years 346 days)
Oldest Player:Rory McAllister (2008 years 194 days)
Average Player Age:30 years 330 days
Domestic Players:10 (90.91 % of starting eleven)

Matchday Squad
Youngest Player:Ross Tokely (27 years 346 days)
Oldest Player:Stuart Soane (2008 years 194 days)
Average Player Age:30 years 330 days
Domestic Players:17 (94.44 % of matchday squad)

First Team Debuts

Milestones
Barry Wilson made his 300th competitive appearance for the Club.

Substitute Michal Pospisil scored with his first touch of the ball in the 81st minute to give Hearts all three points in this match. Club Historian Ian Broadfoot supplies the official report from this match.

HEARTS 1-0 Inverness CT

Not a good performance by either side and it looked for a long time as if 0-0 was on the cards. Michael Pospisil came off the Hearts bench with nine minutes left and he proved to be an inspired substitution as, within a minute, his goal changed all that.

Barry Wilson was ICT captain for the day to celebrate his 300th appearance but it proved a sore defeat for the veteran in more ways than one. He collided with Julien Brellier in 20 minutes and, after treatment, came back wearing a head bandage.

The one thing you can be sure of when playing against Hearts these days is that you can be sure of nothing. Charlie Christie had no idea of the probable Hearts line-up so could only concentrate on preparing his own side – he fielded the same eleven that started last week against Dundee United.

Once the team lines were issued much of the chatter surrounded the fact that Craig Gordon was once more not in the Hearts squad. Stevie Banks continued in the Hearts goal and the substitute ‘keeper was Eduardas Kurskis who arrived from Lithuanian club Kaunas in the January transfer window. The starting eleven included Polish striker Arkadiusz Klimek – another January arrival at Tynecastle.

The match kicked-off at 2pm to avoid a clash with the Scotland v Wales rugby international at Murrayfield. Banks was the Hearts’ hero with just one minute on the clock when he parried a net-bound Graham Bayne volley then, at the other end, Klimek shot over the bar.

A Takis Fyssas shot went past Mike Fraser’s post in 18 minutes then the ‘keeper blocked an Andrew Driver shot with his legs in 24 minutes. The rest of the half produced little but Banks did save from Wilson and Rory McAllister just failed to connect with a Wilson low ball inside the area.

Half Time: 0-0

Into the second half but little of note until the closing period. A Driver volley went wide, Fraser blocked a Roman Bednar shot and a Bednar header went over the bar.

In 70 minutes Rory McAllister latched onto a Richard Hastings cross but his header came off the bar – a rare chance for the visitors. Hearts could have scored with ten minutes left when a Calum Elliot cut-back ran across the face of the goal but no one was there to take advantage. With eight minutes left, just when it looked like ending in stalemate, substitute Pospisil popped up and netted with a back post header after a Driver cross from the left.

Full Time: 1-0

Charlie Christie responded by bringing on Gary McSwegan as a third striker but despite a surge towards Banks no equaliser was forthcoming. Eighth place was retained but with just a goal-difference lead over Dundee United.

Match report written by Ian Broadfoot



Pld W D L F A +/- Pts
1. Celtic 27 21 5 1 53 20 33 68
2. Rangers 26 13 7 6 41 22 19 46
3. Aberdeen 26 13 6 7 36 22 14 45
4. Hearts 27 12 8 7 35 24 11 44
5. Hibernian 27 11 6 10 46 32 14 39
6. Kilmarnock 26 10 6 10 34 40 -6 36
7. Falkirk 27 10 3 14 34 35 -1 33
8. Inverness CT 27 7 10 10 30 36 -6 31
9. Dundee Utd 27 8 7 12 29 48 -19 31
10. Motherwell 25 8 4 13 31 42 -11 28
11. St. Mirren 26 5 8 13 22 40 -18 23
12. Dunfermline 27 3 6 18 13 43 -30 15