I don’t usually take much interest in pre-season friendlies but my Sunderland bubblers have invited me to their house to watch the match and slurp a can or two. I’ve also felt a lack of football since last Sunday and this will help to tide me over till the season begins in three weeks. Of course the line-up will be very fluid during today’s game and I’ve no idea who might start but it will be interesting to check out any of the new lads who play. If Corry Evans is anything like his brother, then he’ll be an asset even if he doesn’t manage that many games, as seems likely. The video of Pritchard banging all those goals in for Norwich was impressive so let’s hope he can get a few for us.
I got the team news at 2.20 and was surprised that there were so many familiar names on it. New signing Callum Doyle was starting as well as Tyrese Dyce, who’s a new name to me. Pritchard was isolating due to Covid while Grigg and Corry Evans were among the subs.
We won a corner in the second minute but nothing came of it. We were spreading the ball about well as we enjoyed most of the attacking and in the eighth minute Gooch managed to get a great cross in from the right but Ross Stewart (not our one) in goal grabbed it. Six minutes later the two Stewarts clashed in the penalty box when our Ross was brought down and we were awarded a penalty. Geads coolly put it away and we were one-up. Hearts had their best period so far and won a corner but we were looking solid enough at the back. There was a pre-arranged drinks break as the temperature out there must have been very high – it was really hot in the house while drinking a cool lager. Hearts continued to do most of the pressing and the left side of our defence was looking leaky. We had a penalty shout just after the half-hour but all we got was a yellow for Geads – it looked to me like his foot had been stomped on. O’Brien had a low shot straight at Stewart in goal but it was a bit more like it. Patterson made a vital stop at the other end and both sides looked quite capable of scoring soon. We won two corners on the trot and from the second of which an O’Brien shot hit the bar but shortly afterwards we were 2-0 up when a Gooch pass fed McGeady and he had time to choose his spot before smashing it past Stewart. We finished strongly, creating several good chances in stoppage time with Stewart in goal saving their bacon. It had been a good half for us and we’d looked generally solid at the back while scoring two and going close on several more occasions. We looked like we had more goals in us. Net result – happiness.
As we kicked off again I couldn’t see any changes apart from Diamond on for Dyce but no doubt more would be coming soon. Pollock had a good shot early on and it went for a corner that we cleared. We were passing it around accurately and keeping possession well without creating any serious chances. Hearts made four changes around ten minutes into the half and they’d already made a couple at the beginning so they were now playing with more regular first-teamers, if I understood correctly. Just after the hour we made a triple change with Stewart, Neil and O’Brien going off and Evans, Richardson and Grigg coming on. The game was going by quickly and not a great deal was happening really. We made a further three changes with Geads among those going off and Taylor, Younger and Wilding coming on. Smith hit the right post with a low shot with twelve minutes left and that was the first excitement for a while. All the changes had killed the game and I don’t suppose the heat helped matters much and my bubblers had drifted away from the screen a long while back. It ended 2-0.
This was a pleasing afternoon with a win against a decent level side, a clean sheet and a number of our younger players getting a run-out. We played cohesive football and created plenty of chances.
