Hearts put the finishing touches to their week-long training camp in Italy with a 2-1 victory over a Barga XI yesterday.
Eggert Jonsson and Gordon Smith scored the goals in a match played in baking heat in Tuscany. Manager Jim Jefferies used the game to give a run-out to his full squad, making nine changes at half time.
Included among the substitutes was 17-year-old Jason Holt who almost scored after a fine run and shot from 20 yards.
Meanwhile, Hearts goalkeeper Jamie MacDonald says he is looking to start the new season in the same way as he ended the last – as Jefferies’ No 1.
The former Scotland Under-21 internationalist made eight successive appearances as Hearts brought the curtain down on a disappointing campaign that saw them finish sixth in the SPL.
MacDonald’s bid to establish himself as the recognised shot-stopper has been hampered by injury in the past but he is determined to prove to Jefferies during pre-season that he should be given the gloves for the visit of St Johnstone on August 14.
The 24-year-old, who faces competition from Marian Kello and Janos Balogh, said: “I thought I did pretty well so hopefully I can carry on and start the season.
“Hopefully I can get a good pre-season under my belt. I am looking forward to the friendly games. That’s why you play football, it’s the games you look forward to and it will be good to get that in the next couple of weeks.”
source – scotsman.com
You’d think the “journalist” who wrote this sporting account would have bothered to learn and cite the name of at least a single Barga player — for instance the man who scored against the Hearts. He might also have mentioned that this was a match between Scottish professionals and a rural Italian team comprised of regular townsfolk who came very close to humbling the Caledonian hotshots.
THE Barga XI goalkeeper did not arrive until one minute past the scheduled kick-off time. Then the traditional pre-match coin toss was replaced by a game of paper-rock-scissors between the two captains due the absence of said coin. Those incidents exemplified the low-key nature of Hearts’ first pre-season outing, but the workout at the end of an exhausting week’s training was nonetheless worthwhile.
Hearts scored first when a textbook Craig Thomson corner was volleyed high into the Barga net by Eggert Jonsson in the fifth minute. But, within five minutes, the part-time hosts restored parity when another set-piece saw a header from Ragghianti loop over Marian Kello and into the net.
The first half was interrupted by arguing between both sets of players after Suso was seen head-to-head with Renucci, the Barga skipper. Marius Zaliukas, who wore the Hearts captain’s armband in the first 45 minutes, certainly gave as as good as he got verbally in what evolved as a rather narky period of the match. This included him yelling at the Italians to “speak English if you have something to say”.
The interval brought a multitude of changes from the visitors with only Jonsson and Arvydas Novikovas staying on. The Icelander assumed the captaincy, and there was soon another unseemly incident which saw Regoli, the Barga goalkeeper, yellow carded. Gordon Smith barged him into his net during an aerial challenge and the Italian reacted by grabbing Smith by the head and then flicking a finger in his face.
It was the striker who secured himself the last laugh when he converted Hearts’ winning goal on 73 minutes. From David Templeton’s cross he controlled the ball and calmly slotted it beyond Regoli, who attempted to kick his opponent in the act of shooting.
The second half’s most positive aspect was the performance of 16-year-old Jason Holt in centre midfield, a player guaranteed to star at senior level in the not-too-distant future.
“He did very well, I brought him on this trip because he’s one for the future and he hasn’t looked out of place at all,” observed Jim Jefferies afterwards. “He’s trained as hard as anybody and put in a good week’s work. The game was nothing more than a training session for us. The lads looked very heavy legged because they’ve worked their socks off this week so I don’t class the game as a proper friendly match. The decisions from the referee get frustrating for everybody but we wanted to get on the ball and pass it and you could see some of them were a bit out of touch with their passing.”
Hearts (first half): Kello; C Thomson, Bouzid, Zaliukas, Jonsson; Suso, Mrowiec, Stevenson, Novikovas; Elliot, Obua.
Hearts (second half): Balogh; J Thomson, Kucharski, Barr, McGowan; Novikovas, Jonsson, Holt, Templeton; Robinson, Smith.
source – http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/top-stories/Jam…
“Marius Zaliukas, who wore the Hearts captain’s armband in the first 45 minutes, certainly gave as as good as he got verbally in what evolved as a rather narky period of the match. This included him yelling at the Italians to ‘speak English if you have something to say.'”
That comment pretty much sums up the Hearts’ mentality, doesn’t it? Neither the team nor the hacks who accompanied them seemed to realize they were in Italy — or “Toscanny” as the Scotsman reporter spelled it in his article. Narky indeed. The mind boggles.