Football Nostalgia: Much huffing and puffing sees Hearts through as Fifers fail to garner a win

Take your choice. If you are an enthusiastic member of the "football is a man's game" school of thought, then this 2-2 draw at East End Park was a fine, meaty piece of entertainment.

If you happen to prefer the accent on skill and subtlety, you merely commend both teams on putting in a lot of effort; congratulate Hearts keeper Jim Cruickshank on a fine afternoon's performance - and, not least, spare thought for Dunfermline, who saw a sustained second-half offensive come to nothing.

I was most surprised to hear a TV commentator awarding "man of the match" ratings to both goalkeepers. Cruickshank fully earned this label, but, although Herriot got through some excellent work in the first half, I think he would be the first to admit that from then on he was almost a spectator. The interval score was fair enough. Hearts had snatched an early goal, lost their lead, fallen behind by conceding a penalty and, almost immediately, equalised by virtue of another penalty. With the wind behind them in the second half, Dunfermline virtually took command ... in midfield, that is.

We saw hardly anything of Hearts' attack - but the Fifers saw far too much of a heavily reinforced Edinburgh defence, which proved very solid indeed.

Certainly, Hearts were glad to get away with a point.

The last-minute decision to play Alex Edwards on the wing for Dunfermline as soon as it was learned that John Cumming was deputising for injured David Holt, was shrewd enough. Certainly the 17-year-old was the best forward on the field. He gave Cumming a very busy afternoon and it was not the fault of the winger that the men inside should prove so erratic in their finishing.