Murrayfield the field of dreams? It came close!

Last updated : 17 September 2004 By Stewart Morrison

Murrayfield. A helluva lot of apprehension was in the minds of the Hearts support before the game against Sporting Braga on Thursday night. This apprehension soon faded away as the kick off approached. the crowd, lots late arriving, soon made enough noise to try and hide the fact that there was more than 45,000 empty seats in Scotland's finest and largest sporting arena, sung loud and proud for most of the 90 minutes. The way the fans were situated, made the spectacle a better atmosphere. The East stand at murrayfield is the biggest and was 95% full. This is where most of the singing was taking place. The noise was deafening, especially when Hearts took the lead. There was a 'temporary' PA system put in place around the perimeter of the pitch, and Forth 2 DJ and Tynecastle announcer Scott Wilson played the most apt tunes before, half time and every time Hearts scored a goal. Every song played made you proud to be Scottish and a Hearts Supporter.

The weather was a typical Scottish late summers evening. The rain hardly halted, and the wind did its best to spoil the occasion! This had absolutely no bearing on what was happening on the pitch. Hearts took the game to Braga from the off, and could have been a couple of goals up within 10 minutes. This made the Loyal Hearts support even more voiciferous. Even the West stand, which the bottom teir was more than 3/4 full were getting in on the act. Superb sound all round. Only if they didnt open the top teir of the East stand, the entire bottom half of The stadium would have been almost full. SC Braga had the entire North stand to themselves, which was a pity, as they brought across a meagre 35 fans with them (I counted!) So that left a massive void in the ground.

The atmosphere became somewhat subdued when Braga pulled a goal back to make it 2-1. Hearts fans found it a bit difficult to get themselves going for a 20 minute spell, as Braga were laying on a fair bit of pressure. With 10 minutes to go, Hearts made 2 substitutes. This turned the game, and Hearts were back on the offensive which really turned the volume up in the stands. Hearts were peppering the Braga goal in the last 5 minutes, the near miss noise (ooooh!!!!) rattled the rafters. Everyone in the ground sensed there was another goal coming and we seemed to lift the players on the park, who duly obliged with a last minute third goal. The place went mental when Paddy Kisnorbo rifled in the third goal. As it was the last minute, Hearts fans deafened the place again and as the referee blew the final whistle, Mr Scott Wilson DJ blasted out the 'Scottish part' of Carnival de Paris. This capped a great end to an even better night.

Murrayfield will never compensate the loss of Tynecastle if it ever comes to that. But the Hearts support made enough Atmosphere to make it a viable alternative if we need to play there for a couple of years. The crowd of 19,000 was the biggest turn out at a Hearts 'home' game for over 10 years, and if the team can put on more performances like they did on Thursday, then I reckon the fans will keep coming.