Hearts debrief: Fans need to vent, Jamie Walker verve, Mihai Popescu's miss

A look back at the 1-1 draw between Championship league leaders Hearts and Greenock Morton.
Jamie Walker rises high to recuse Hearts a point. Picture: SNSJamie Walker rises high to recuse Hearts a point. Picture: SNS
Jamie Walker rises high to recuse Hearts a point. Picture: SNS

Player of the match

New boy Aaron McEneff, starting his first game, added real thrust to the midfield and gave fans a glimpse of what he will offer early on with a bursting run and shot. But on the day he scored his 50th goal for the club to rescue a point it has to be Jamie Walker. The forward’s tail was up as soon as he came off the bench. He went close with a volley prior to his goal – a superb header – and generally added a bit of verve to what was often a static attack.

Defining moment

Whether it could be classed as defining is up for debate but Mihai Popescu’s early miss was a portent of the frustration which was to follow. The ball fell to him in a central position, the goal at his mercy and he managed to lift it so far over the bar that it was both remarkable and impressive. It wasn’t the only time he, or others, were wasteful.

Ref watch

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David Dickinson achieved that notable feat of aggravating both sets of players and management teams. Normally you would assume the referee is having a good game if that’s the case. But in this instance it certainly wasn’t. While he didn’t have any catastrophic blunders there were a number of clear incidents which he missed or saw differently. There was also the strange decision to pull back play for a foul on Liam Boyce when the Northern Irishman had steered himself into the box and was about to shoot.

Benefit of hindsight

All sorts of questions could and probably have been asked by fans involving Jamie Walker, Andy Irving and maybe even Armand Gnanduillet but, really, it just wasn’t a good afternoon and another poor performance.

Moment you may have missed

Not a moment from this specific match but just something fans are missing in general, the opportunity to vent and let out frustration, or encourage and try and lift the players. The frustration of not being at the games is only magnifying that feeling amongst fans and it goes on to social media. We need supporters back, for their health and just for football as a whole.

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