Hearts 3 Motherwell 0

Hearts recovered from their UEFA Cup exit thanks to a double by Gordon Durie on his debut.

The visitors survived an early penalty scare after defender Ange Oueifio was sent off by referee Willie Young for a laBefore Motherwell were reduced to 10 men, the visitors went close when Lee McCulloch headed wide from a dangerous Paul Harvey cross.

Oueifio then saw red for bringing down Kirk but Woods' save from Cameron's spot-kick proved only to be a temporary reprieve.

Naysmith went on a run down the left and sent over a glorious cross which was headed home brilliantly by Durie.

Kevin James of Hearts and Kemble of Motherwell both went into the book as the visitors tried to get back into the game, but they were as good as beaten when Kirk shot home from inside the six-yard-box to make it 2-0.

Juanjo beat Steven Hammell and cut the ball back from the byline for Kirk to score.

Well fought back and Stuart Elliott went on a 20-yard run, beating three Hearts players before being tackled brilliantly by Gordan Petric on the edge of the box.

John Spencer had been denied by Antti Niemi's brilliant diving save earlier on and the little striker let fly from 20 yards but again the big Finnish keeper saved well.

Robbie Neilson passed for Juanjo who got to the byline and made another great cut-back but Kemble tackled Durie to deny the former Rangers man.

From the resulting Naysmith corner Woods punched out only as far as Juanjo 15 yards from goal but the Spaniard mis-hit his shot.

And moments before the interval Juanjo found space in the box but shot over from a great position.

Hearts started the second half in the same way they finished the first and they went close to increasing their lead through a Durie header and Cameron's 20-yard shot.

Hammell tried to get Motherwell back into the match with a surging run down the left flank and a touch back to McCulloch but Naysmith cleared the danger.

Juanjo was running riot for Hearts and on 57 minutes he sprinted down the left flank and sent in a pinpoint cross but Naysmith held his head in his hands after heading wide when he should have done better.

The Jambos did not have to wait long however because within a minute an excellent debut performance from Durie got even better.

From another excellent Naysmith corner, Steven Pressley headed on and Durie beat Kemble to head the ball over the line to seal his and Hearts' day.
st-ditch challenge on Northern Ireland international Andy Kirk.

Goalkeeper Stevie Woods made a brilliant diving save from Colin Cameron's eighth-minute spot-kick, but five minutes later ex-Rangers star Durie scored with a trademark header from Gary Naysmith's cross from the left.

Hearts were running riot against 10-man Motherwell and after 27 minutes Kirk slotted home from inside the six-yard box after a cut-back from Spaniard Juanjo.

Motherwell never gave up the fight but it was Durie who capped an impressive first performance for the Jambos by beating Benito Kemble and heading home his second and Hearts' third on 58 minutes after Steven Pressley had headed on a superb Naysmith corner.

Teams

Hearts: Niemi, Neilson, Pressley, Petric, Naysmith, James, Cameron (Jackson 67), Durie (McSwegan 76), Flogel,Kirk (Adam 76), Juanjo.

Subs Not Used: McKenzie, Murray.Booked: James, Naysmith.

Goals: Durie 13, Kirk 27, Durie 58.

Motherwell: Woods, Oueifio, Kemble, Hammell, Strong, Brannan, Elliott, Harvey (Corrigan 15), Spencer, Adams (Townsley 62), McCulloch (Goodman 77).

Subs Not Used: Connolly, Nicholas.Sent Off: Oueifio (8).

Booked: Kemble, McCulloch.

Att: 10,460

Ref: W Young (Scotland).


Taken from sportinglife.com