George Foulkes: Chance to show McGhee what he could have had

TWO points dropped by Hearts is the only way to describe the first football outing of the year at Tynecastle on Saturday.

Which makes Wednesday's re-arranged fixture against Motherwell all the more vital as the SPL battle really hots up.

Victory would see us yet again draw level on points with Dundee United who claimed what appears to have been a hard-fought 2-2 draw under former Jambo star Craig Levein at Celtic.

The Tannadice side are looking ever more impressive and are without doubt the team we must joust with for a place in Europe next season and it must be their manager who takes much of the credit.

Motherwell, on the other hand, are a real shadow of the side they were last season and I wonder if Mark McGhee has now come to regret turning down the chance to manage Hearts.

Surely he must be looking enviously at all Csaba Laszlo has achieved in his short time holding the reins then look around Fir Park searching for another escape route. But his loss has been Hearts' gain.

Despite several key figures missing from our starting line-up, Laszlo was able to pull together a makeshift defence that, in all honesty, was rarely troubled by what appears to be one of the weakest Hibs sides in history.

The green and white scarfed fans may have filled out the Roseburn Stand and all credit to them for braving the January chill, because they had absolutely naught to cheer about.

Which was nothing less than the morons among them who jeered during the minute's silence for George Miller deserved.

These ignorant boo boys disgraced not just themselves, but their club and I applaud the Hibs supporters who shouted them down.

As it was, Hibs were as poor as I can remember, disjointed and uninventive, and other than a decent ten-minute start, pinned back in their own half wishing they had big Rob Jones helping them out.

Which has me now much more confident for Hearts visit to Easter Road in the Scottish Cup, the big cup that Hibs have failed to win since 1902.

Hearts fans will remember of course that we knocked Hibs out last time we went on to win the coveted trophy.

And while Hibs will point to the fact that they did the same to us on their way to winning the league cup, it doesn't matter really, does it?

Let's face it, the Scottish Cup remains one of the few chances at silverware either side will have this year, so it should be real blood and thunder stuff.

Which might explain why Saturday was relatively tame compared with Edinburgh derby matches of the past, maybe both sides thinking ahead to the game to come down Leith way.

I thought Robbie Neilson had an extremely good game, Andrew Driver was very unlucky not to have earned a goal for his tireless work, and I was impressed with Gary Glen when he came on.

How I wish he'd been there from the start rather than Christian Nade who yet again showed how poor he is at converting his many chances.

It had me wondering if there was any way to recall Scott Crabbe after his half-time hat-trick rather than persevere with Nade.

At least Lazslo has the good grace to know how poor Nade has been and acknowledges the fact that we desperately need a goal getter instead of a player whose continued start in the first team is, frankly, baffling.

Which leaves me despairing that Glen is being left to wait it out. Yes he's young, maybe he's a bit cocky, but the boy can play.

Surely he could only improve with top team action as others before him have done. Else, what's the point of a youth policy?

I'm intrigued by the possibility that Velicka could return, less so the prospect of Calum Elliot coming "home". But if we don't have a hit-man to support the good work elsewhere, we will never have a chance to catch up on United's better goal difference.

Of course we will always run the risk of leaking goals at the back meantime, at least if the SFA has anything to do with it.

Their decision not to allow an appeal to be heard against Marius Zaliukas' red card from the Aberdeen game on the say so of blunder-ref Iain Brines – who made the wrong call in the first place – was an injustice.

I can only imagine the hoo-hah that would have been caused if it had been either of the Old Firm sides on the receiving end.

Low cost for kids just the ticket

CONGRATULATIONS to Hearts for another great initiative – this time cheap tickets for supporters aged under 12.

In these credit-crunching times not only will it help hard-pressed families save some much-needed money, but encourage the fans of tomorrow, today.

Remember the old 'father and son' gates when we still had The Shed?

Hearts has always been a family club, a community club, and it is pleasing to see that supporters are being encouraged to fill seats that may otherwise be vacant.

After all, how many people would like to take one, two, three children along to the game as young Hearts fans already only to be put off by the cost?

At £7 a head for U12s, the first game to benefit will be this month's fixture against Inverness Caley.

It is a real winner, and a great way to kick off 2009.