Hearts 0-1 Leeds United

Hearts 0-1 Leeds United

Pre-Season Friendly

Sunday 30th July 2023

Having watched both the Under 18s and the B Team over the past few days, this was a case of ‘completing the Hearts hat-trick’ by watching the first team in their final pre-season friendly against Leeds United.

By coincidence, even as a veteran of roughly 1,800 games, one of the most enjoyable away days I’ve ever had was watching Leeds in a pre-season game at Motherwell in 2011 (won 2-1) and the day after I went to Tynecastle for the first team and saw Hearts beat Royal Antwerp courtesy of a late goal.

Things have changed a bit since; there’s a ‘new’ (now five-year-old) Main Stand that’s been built at Tynecastle, whereas Leeds have been to the Premier League, been relegated, and are about to enter a new era under Daniel Farke who is about as good a manager as any club is going to get when it comes to trying to mount a promotion challenge from the Championship.

And this game even brought about a new one for me as there was a delay to kick-off (cue a few more decent tunes over the PA system) due to the linesman being injured and needing to be replaced BEFORE the game had started.

The decisive moment in this game came just before half-time when Luke Ayling scored the only goal or one which was credited to him at least; driving in a low attempt which deflected into the back of the net off a defender, but in fairness Leeds could have won by a few more goals.

Hearts had the odd chance and Islan Meslier made a decent stop in one of them yet the visitors created a lot more. Patrick Bamford had a couple just after Ayling’s opener - including one where he showed fine technique to let the ball drop over his shoulder, turn and hammer a shot instinctively. He then had a header from close-range just after half-time (one of those instances where the ball came at him that quickly he barely had time to react - and thus it went wide) and when the Whites did have the ball in the net thanks to Dan James, right infront of the 3,000 traveling fans, after what seemed like an eternity the goal was ruled out for offside.

What did stand out was Leeds’ play at times because their sharpness, speed of thought, intensity, general play, movement and transitions was just that little bit sharper than Hearts - especially early on when they started the game really well in that first 15 minutes.

You can’t ever read too much into what happens in pre-season; this one did peter out a bit and have a few lulls (which even kept the Leeds fans quiet because they’re usually loud for 90 minutes) but on the basis of this and their summer recruitment - signing good lads rather than a few idiots which infiltrated the team when they were in the Premier League, I think they’ll be ‘around it’ come the end of the season and in the Play-Offs at worst.

One player who did alright was Archie Gray. He’s always been rated highly at Elland Road (hence why he was playing for the U23s at just 15) and currently aged 17 years and five months, he played the full game here. More importantly, he didn’t look out of place either. He has a few things to learn including when and when not to tackle; he gave away a couple of bits in the second half, but none of his team-mates were afraid to give him the ball which can sometimes happen when young lads are put in these situations. He looked confident, his height is good, his set-pieces were generally decent (noticed that) and working on the assumption he’ll go out on loan in the near future to continue his development and learn the ropes, I’ve no doubt he’ll do alright for himself.

In comparison to everything I’ve seen in England, Hearts are along the lines of a lower League One / decent League Two team; think  Burton, MK Dons, Northampton, Bradford or Mansfield, etc, and you’ll be along the right lines) and again, Archie Gray didn’t look out of place playing against it.

Next up for me is a trip to Brechin on Tuesday to watch the B Team in the Challenge Cup - lets hope the forecast rain holds off because I really don’t fancy getting drenched next to that hedge!