Aberdeen 2 Hearts 0
Ladbrokes Premiership, Friday 27th April 2018 – Pittodrie
Hearts dreadful away form continued in the Granite City with a hapless performance as they lost 2-0 to Aberdeen on Friday evening.
It was one of the Gorgie men’s poorest displays of the season and scant reward for the travelling support who weren’t slow to vent their anger at the end of the game. Hearts are stuck in sixth place in the Ladbrokes Premiership and their season is pretty much at an end – and it showed.
Head Coach Craig Levein made two changes from the team which lost meekly at Ibrox last Sunday. Teenagers Lewis Moore and Euan Henderson replaced Danny Amankwaa and the injured Marcus Godinho.
To avoid putting even more of a dampener on Hearts fans’ Friday night, I’ll keep this report brief.
The blue-shirted Hearts players had plenty of possession but recorded just one shot on target the whole evening.
Aberdeen went in front in the 20th minute. A corner from McGinn was headed across the Hearts penalty box to the unmarked O’Connor who swept the ball home. Hearts defence has been their strength this season, but the goal conceded was a shocker.
Eleven minutes before half-time and the hosts doubled their lead when McLean ran at a desperate Hearts defence before setting up Mackay-Steven who drilled the ball past Hearts keeper Jon McLaughlin.
Hearts were down and out before the game had even reached the halfway mark.
Half-time Aberdeen 2 Hearts 0
The second half? A non-event. The only thing of note was a 20-yard shot on goal from substitute Harry Cochrane.
It may be the end of the season and Hearts have nothing to play for, but surely serious questions must be asked of Craig Levein and his tactics at Pittodrie. As at Ibrox last Sunday Hearts were clueless in the final third of the field.
The Hearts support- being asked to fork out substantial sums of cash for season tickets for next season – deserve far more.
Aberdeen: Lewis; Logan; Ball; McKenna; Shinnie; O’Connor; McLean; Mackay-Steven; May; McGinn; Cosgrove.
Hearts: McLaughlin; Souttar; Hughes; Berra; Randall; Smith; Cowie; Moore; Naismith; Henderson; Lafferty.
Referee: Andrew Dallas
Att: 14,045
Top man: Jon McLaughlin
Author of The Team for Me - 50 Years of Following Hearts. Runs Mind Generating Success, a successful therapy practice in Edinburgh. Contact me if you want rid of any unwanted habits. Twitter @Mike1874
