Strong Hearts beat at high tempo

STUART BATHGATE AT TYNECASTLE

Hearts 2 De Vries (15), Kirk (90)
Aberdeen 0

NEW season, same script. It is premature to presume that Hearts will definitely be the best of the rest again, but on this opening-day outing they at least showed they have lost none of the competence and cohesion which secured them third place last time round. After Mark de Vries’ solo strike had given them the lead they should really have gone on to kill off the game, but, in another echo of last season, they reserved a bit of drama for the final moments.

First, Tepi Moilanen pulled off the save of the afternoon to tip a Paul Sheerin shot over, and then, as play raced up to the other end, substitute Andy Kirk tapped in a low cross from Robert Sloan to make it 2-0. That goal, incidentally, ensured Hearts of third place in the table - ahead on goal difference of their next opponents, Hibs.

That fact may be insignificant at this embryonic stage of proceedings, but it will not be lost on the Easter Road club.

Bobby Williamson’s team would have knocked their city rivals off the bronze-medal position had they won the last league derby back in January, and the chance to do so now will be an additional incentive, should any be needed, on Sunday.

De Vries is officially a doubt for that game, having been taken off in the second half with a groin strain. Unless he fails to respond to physiotherapy, though, he will surely start, as he did enough against Aberdeen to suggest he could be an even more dangerous opponent this season than he was last.

The big Dutchman looked faster and a few pounds lighter than he was five or six months ago, and, while his first touch is not always the deftest, he is extremely difficult to dispossess once in command of the ball. He proved as much with his goal, evading the challenges of Russell Anderson and Kevin McNaughton before turning back on to his left foot and sending a low drive past David Preece.

Their control of the midfield ensured by the powerful combination of Phil Stamp and Scott Severin, Hearts frequently worked their way into promising positions throughout the rest of that half, without ever delivering a final ball of sufficient quantity to trouble the visiting defence.

In the second half, though, with space inevitably opening up on a punishingly-hot afternoon, Aberdeen pushed their wing backs up and came much more into the game.

Only on occasion, however, did they really disconcert the Hearts defence, in which Andy Webster and Steven Pressley yet again played as if they had formed a pivotal partnership for several years rather than just a few months. And, when a direct opening was fashioned, Moilanen proved able to deal with it.

A modestly encouraging afternoon, then, for Hearts, especially as their new players fitted in pretty much seamlessly.

Dennis Wyness was quiet but hard-working, Paul Hartley competed well out on the right, and Sloan - not a new signing, but a recent introduction to the first-team squad - proved a handful right until the end. Hartley, who was a shade fortunate to be named man of the match ahead of Severin, made it clear that he and his colleagues would not read too much into what had been no more than a decent beginning to the campaign.

"It’s a good start," Hartley said. "The heat was a killer but we got a good result and that’s pleasing. "The manager is building a really strong squad and we all know we’ll have to play well to stay in the team." There may not yet be such stiff competition within Steve Paterson’s squad, but Aberdeen should not be too dispirited by this loss. They had impressive individual performances from McNaughton, Sheerin and Steven Tosh, and, although yet to gel as a team, they do look to be moving tentatively in the right direction.

All the same, they did not feel hard done by to return home pointless.

"The better team won," was Tosh’s verdict. "We didn’t create enough chances. One-nil might have been a fairer result, but the bottom line is that they get the three points.

"In the first half they maybe gave us a wee bit of a runaround, but you’d expect that in their first home game of the season.

"We worked hard, and more than matched them in the second half, but you can’t take much from a 2-0 defeat."

Paterson reckoned that De Vries had been the difference between his team and Craig Levein’s. This was true in the sense that without the striker’s early goal Hearts might not have played with such self-assurance, but it would be a travesty to suggest that apart from one player these two sides were of roughly equal ability.

If and when Aberdeen get a good, confidence-building result, they may just embark on a run which transforms them into top-six contenders.

On this evidence, though, such a result will not come from their next match, at home to Rangers on Saturday.

Referee: W Young. Attendance: 14,260

Taken from the Scotsman