'Defensive struggles', 'Avdijaj frustration', 'Honeymoon period over' - Three takeaways as Hearts remain bottom after dramatic draw with Hamilton Accies

Analysis from Tynecastle as Hearts come from behind to draw 2-2 with 10-man Hamilton

A very frustrating draw for Hearts at home to Accies. Picture: SNS

Defensive struggles

Hearts once again made it easy for the opposition to get in front. The opening goal for Accies, netted by Marios Ogkmpoe, was like watching two friends playing FIFA on the Playstation, only one was fast asleep. Every aspect of the second was calamitous, from Zdenek Zlamal’s panicky pass out to Sean Clare’s hack to concede the penalty. John Souttar and Craig Halkett struggled to deal with Ogkmpoe and David Moyo before the sending off. It wasn’t intricate or clever link play, it was a simple aggressive and direct style. The Hamilton duo dominated in the air, while any time the ball went over the top of the Hearts defence, the home support got nervous and so did the Jam Tarts back line it appeared. Failing to deal with such basics of the Scottish game is another reason why the club find themselves in the position they are in.

Donis Avdijaj

After the 3-3 draw with St Johnstone, despite Sean Clare’s late equaliser, some fans were still annoyed about the late set piece delivery from Donis Avdijaj. Fast forward a couple of weeks and, this time from open play, Hearts had one last chance to get a winner. Avdijaj was over the ball. Seconds later it was in the crowd as he fired a cross high and wide. It may be very harsh to single out the attacker, who came off the bench, when there were worse performers over the course. But the ex-Schalke ace arrived with a big reputation and was expected to add creativity and invention to the final third. He doesn’t lack in passion but his decision making needs to improve hugely. He committed silly fouls, as did Jamie Walker, which aided Accies. He tried to turn in the wrong areas and didn’t quite look like prising open the Accies defence.

Honeymoon period

If it wasn’t already, the Daniel Stendel honeymoon period is well and truly over. Boos from the home support rang out at full-time to indicate just that, even with the rescuing of the point. The win over Rangers at a raucous Tynecastle looked like it was going to be the turning point. It wasn’t. It was merely a blip. A very bright day in the middle of a storm. A storm which doesn’t look like clearing. Stendel was hamstrung by the team he was taking over from Craig Levein but he can’t escape criticism. Hearts were third bottom when he took over, albeit level on points with those below them. The defence is leaking more goals, the goalkeeping issue, going behind in games and having mountains to climb. The biggest mountain of all is still to climb, getting off the bottom of the Ladbrokes Premiership.