Dundee 2
Heart of Midlothian 0
League (Premier Division)

Match Report

It was not so much about football at Dens Park on Saturday as emotions, ranging all the way through from hysteria to total despair, and at least 90% of the suffering was done by Hearts.

Seven minutes from the end of the final game of the season they were league champions. The point they started with was going to be enough to see their magnificent 31-games-with-out-loss run take the Premier League championship.

At the end they staggered, stunned and disbelieving, from the pitch, losers to two late Albert Kidd goals and knowing Celtic had thrashed St Mirren 5-0 and were champions on goal difference.

Take nothing away from Celtic, whose magnificent late run put tremendous pressure on Hearts, but feel sympathy for the Tynecastle club.

Never before has a championship been lost in the last seven minutes of a 36-game, 54-hours, playing season!

It has been lost in the last game, though, as former colleague Tommy Gallacher pointed out.

"We lost it at Falkirk on the last day 37 years ago,' he said, recalling his playing days with Dundee.

"It's a long time ago, but as fresh in my memory as if it was yesterday. I know how Hearts are feeling-and it won't even have sunk in properly yet!"

Bravely, manager Alex Macdonald presented himself for a corridor Press conference minutes afterwards to disclose that a sickness bug had decimated Hearts playing staff during the week.

Black could not start the game, Whittaker could not finish it-they swapped at half-time. Levein was in bed instead of playing, Colquhoun and Berry had both recovered, but were anything but in normal form.

"At the end of the day everyone gave their best and you have to hold up your hands to them," he said.

After a few more comments it became too much for him and he ended, "You know how we feel..." and went back to the dressing room.

A grown man had finished the game crying in the directors' box, Hearts fans were strewn all over the Dens Park turf, also crying, chairman Wallace Mercer went among the hundreds chanting his name and thanked them.

Even Archie Knox, manager of the winning team, could talk about little but Hearts.

"I'm as much heart-broken for them as for us," he said, no pun intended and referring to the fact that, though Dundee had won, they had still lost out on Europe next season, because Ranger won and go forward on better goal difference.

"To go 31 games without defeat and not win the league is unreal, tragic," he went on.

"We've had up-and-down form, so we can look back on many games where we might have done better, but Hearts..."

Archie then explained Dundee's tremendous late burst-word reached the players, wrongly as it turned out, that Motherwell had drawn with Rangers and "it gave us a real injection." He made the point that Dundee were always the more relaxed side and Albert Kidd, scorer of both Dundee's goals, "pleaded with me yesterday for his chance because 'I always play well against Hearts, boss."

Albert switched from left wing to right not long before scoring his double. "It was on instructions from the bench and worked a treat," he said.

His first goal came when Brown headed down a Connor corner and he cracked it home though Hearts keeper Henry Smith got a touch.

A couple of minutes later a perfect 1-2 with Harvey saw him lash home a great shot.

Despite this, man of the match was Colin Hendry, even ahead Kidd and the excellent Jim Duffy, Bobby Glennie, Vince Mennie and Robert Connor.

Put on to do a job much more experienced players have totally failed to do this season-mark Sandy Clark out of the game-he succeeded brilliantly.

It was not a great game, there was too much at stake for that, but what a battle. If that's what a 19,567 crowd does for the Dark Blues, they will be praying for many more like it next season.

Match report written by The Courier