Who do you think you are kidding Mr Levein?

This was a massive own goal by the Hearts manager, as he rested no less than SIX players for the East End Park encounter. Hearts have never beaten Dunfermline on their plastic pitch since it was installed, and you couldn't help but feel this was not going to change as the teams were read out. Dunfermline hadn't won a game at all this season under new manager Davie Hay, but the Pars took the game to Hearts from the off, although clear cut chances were at a premium for almost all the first half.

One minute into the second half, Craig Sives brought down Gary Dempsey inside the area. Dempsey took the penalty kick himself only to see the Hearts No 1 catching the ball and denying Dunfermline the lead they deserved. One would have thought this would be a turning point for Hearts and waken them up a bit. Not to be! After 57 mins, Hearts made a double substitution with Maybury and Joe Hamill coming on for the inneffective Craig Sives and Phil Stamp respectivley and 5 minutes later Paul Hartley was brought into the action to try and offer the midfield a bit of spark at the expense of Michael Stewart.

Well, a better looking line up now. maybe it is just a matter of time when Hearts are going to play some of the decent football we are getting used to these days. Lo and behold! Dunfermline take the lead! Barry Nicholson advanced onto Hearts 18 yard box, made to look like he was going to blast the ball through the keeper, then cleverly chipped the ball over the advancing Gordon. After that, Hearts never really got back into any type of rythmn and proceeded to play as they have all day. Crap.

In the dying minutes, Hearts had their best chance of the day. Alan Maybury collected the ball just outside the box, and with only Pars keeper Derek Stillie to beat, chipped it over the bar. Remenicant of Paul Hartley's chip-over-the-bar-in-the-last-minute against Rangers last week!

So to sum up an absolute dreadful day, Craig Levein made a massive mistake leaving out so many first team regulars. The UEFA cup game on Thursday could'nt have taken too much of a toll surely this early in the season. If he was protecting his 'star' players for the return math on the 30th, then is he going to play a weak squad like todays for the Kilmarnock game on Wednesday and the Inverness game on Saturday? If so, I hope he doesn't expect too many people to shell out their hard earned cash to watch dross like we endured in Dunfermline today.