Hearts' attack is better by half

IAN RUTHERFORD MOIRA GORDON AT TYNECASTLE

HEARTS 3 Maybury 50, De Vries 53, McKenna 79
KILMARNOCK 0

ON TUESDAY night, Craig Levein had bemoaned the fact his team had left it until the second half of their CIS Cup semi-final to come alive and, while they were far from dormant in the opening 45 minutes yesterday, the manager still had to wait until after the interval for the breakthrough.

But when the deadlock was broken in the 50th minute, there was no holding Hearts back. Having never thrown away a league lead of more than one goal all season, their two goals and the sending off of Kilmarnock sweeper Greg Shields for his second bookable offence, all within three minutes, put the match beyond the visitors, who spent the remainder of the game over-stretched, chasing shadows and vulnerable to the counter-attack.

It also negated any ambition Jim Jefferies had of clawing back at least some of the four-point gap between his current charges and his former club in the race to finish third.

Last week, after overcoming Dunfermline, who were their nearest challengers at that stage, Levein refused to get too carried away. Having beaten Kilmarnock, to leave the chasing pack trailing by at least seven points, he was still keeping the lid on his emotions. But while he trots out the politically-correct line about there still being a long way to go, the truth is that missing out on the title of best of the rest now would require hari kari on the part of the Tynecastle players.

Judging by the spirit of the Hearts players, who have defied all pre-season predictions of bottom-six struggles and even relegation fears, that sort of Premierleague suicide bid is unlikely.

With the exception of Stephane Mahe, who had not recovered from the knock sustained in the cup match, the Hearts gaffer opted to start the game with the team which had been so sluggish and lacking in self-belief at Hampden midweek, and it was clear they were in the mood not to allow a repeat of that half-hearted display.

Even against Kilmarnock, who have only lost one of their past nine matches and easily dismantled Livingston at Almondvale last week, they surged forward with the confidence of a side who believed they could not be beaten. In their minds it was a matter of when rather than if, with a number of contenders desperate for the honour of breaking the deadlock.

When the goal did come it was from one of the most unlikely sources. Alan Maybury, a player who has come on leaps and bounds this season, both defensively and in his unstinting willingness to drive forward and aid attacks, picked up a sloppy clearance about 30 yards out, took a couple of steps forward and unleashed a low screamer.

Two minutes later, Phil Stamp, a man who has the kind of winning attitude managers would love to replicate in all their charges, and a growing influence on this Hearts side despite his manager’s insistence that he still has plenty left in the locker, drove forward at greater speed than his Stevie Fulton-esque frame would suggest was possible and was only halted by a foolish Shields, who had already been booked for dissent in the first half and was sent packing earlier than he or the Kilmarnock bench would have liked.

Given how comfortable Hearts were looking on the ball and the advantage they held in terms of personnel and scoreline, it was always going to be an uphill struggle for Kilmarnock.

A minute later it took on the magnitude of scaling Mount Everest. A high ball into the box should have been an easy take for Kilmarnock goalkeeper Colin Meldrum but with Mark de Vries breathing down his neck he fumbled and the big Dutchman, who showed improvement on the inept displays of recent weeks, took the ball away and with Meldrum flailing at his feet he calmly stroked the ball into the net.

While the first half had been more thrust than cut, the clearer scoring opportunities actually falling to Kilmarnock, with Kris Boyd and Jamie Fowler blasting narrowly wide from inside the box, the game opened up as soon as the second goal was scored.

"Hearts took control of the game after that," said the visiting boss. It was an honest assessment.

"That was as good a performance as we’ve given since I’ve been there," said Levein. "The first half was a bit of a battle but all credit to the players. In the first 20 minutes they played some really, really good stuff and if we’d been a bit better in the box we could have been ahead."

It was that failure to get on the end of some penetrative play and the kind of trickery from the likes of Gary Wales and Jean Louis Valois that justified the admission charges which will have worried Levein but patience is a virtue and it is one Hearts are having to get accustomed to.

Other chances materialised and while the score could have been increased on several occasion, Hearts did Kilmarnock a favour by waiting until the 79th minute to better the scoreline, and it was down to the substitutes.

Kevin McKenna, on for De Vries in the 79th minute, and Steven Boyack, a replacement for Stamp two minutes later, combined, with the latter’s infield pass being turned past Meldrum from close in.

It was a subdued celebration and that told it’s own story. The match was already well won by then, the goal was merely a reminder to the head coach that they were worthy of a place on the park. The trouble facing Levein is that all the players are surely worthy of a place these days.

Taken from the Scotsman