Kirk on hand to warm Hearts

MIKE AITKEN AT TYNECASTLE

Hearts 2
De Vries (54), Kirk (86)

Falkirk 1
Latapy (58)

Referee: J Rowbotham. Attendance: 8,649

HEARTS edged into the fourth round of the CIS Insurance Cup at Tynecastle last night thanks to the fire-power of their strikers. Mark de Vries and Andy Kirk scored the valuable goals which thwarted a resilient defensive effort from a battling Falkirk side, who earned high marks for organisation and effort.

Craig Levein, Hearts’ head coach, knew Falkirk’s old hands in defence would throw up a brick wall in front of goal and wondered before the match if it might not be a game which suited Dennis Wyness far better than Kirk.

Given the Ulsterman’s outstanding two-goal display against Partick Thistle, however, Levein knew "it would have broken Andy’s heart if I’d left him out". In the end the tie was played in front of Falkirk’s back five rather than behind them, but Kirk still came up with the decisive strike a few minutes from the end of a game which was threatening to spill over into extra-time.

True, Kirk’s shot took a helpful deflection off a defender into the net, but the run and the execution were commendable. In the two games they’ve played together, Kirk and De Vries have scored five goals, a statistic which suggests the young coach was correct to keep the pair together. The jury is still out, though, on whether or not the time was right to give Craig Gordon an extended run in the first team.

The Under-21 goalkeeper didn’t deal with crosses brilliantly in the early stages of the game and made a potentially costly mistake when he failed to prevent Russell Latapy’s shot cancelling out De Vries’ opening goal. "Maybe I’ve been guilty of talking up Craig and he thought playing in the first team would be easy," admitted Levein. "But it’s different at this level from the Under-21s. At Falkirk’s goal, he looked a little bit dozy. So this will be a good test of character for him."

Asked if he thought lightning was ever likely to strike twice - Falkirk eliminated Hearts from the Scottish Cup in January - Levein argued there was never much sign of his players losing this tie, never mind conceding four goals. Nevertheless, he was full of praise for the way John Hughes marshalled his First Division outfit on and off the pitch and thought Falkirk could hardly have made life more difficult for the home side.

Operating with three centre-backs and striving to flood the midfield and catch Hearts on the break, Falkirk’s use of crosses initially caused Gordon a few problems from corners, free-kicks and long throws.

Twice the young goalkeeper struggled to command his six-yard box and twice redeemed himself with fine blocks. The first incident saw Gordon come for a long throw from the left touchline and miss it before Steven Pressley headed clear. Latapy picked up the loose ball and struck a snap shot through a ruck of bodies which the goalkeeper saved well. Much the same story then unfolded from a free-kick on the right, with David Nicholls thumping the clearance goalwards.

The combination of Robbie Neilson and Paul Hartley down the right flank was easily the most productive aspect of the first-half for Hearts. But the Tynecastle side needed to balance their bright work down the right with a more incisive approach on the left, where Jean-Louis Valois was quiet and Patrick Kisnorbo rarely seen outside his own half.

Levein switched Valois and Hartley in the second half in a bid to stretch the visitors on both flanks and persistence eventually paid off for the hosts when Valois won a free-kick on the edge of the box in the 53rd minute. Hartley swept a 20-yard shot round the wall which goalkeeper Allan Ferguson blocked but couldn’t hold. Kirk was first to the scene and again Ferguson stopped the Irishman’s shot. This time, though, the ball fell at the feet of De Vries, who bundled the ball over the line.

If Hearts thought they’d struck the killer blow they were wrong. Five minutes later, Latapy held off a challenge from Simmons in midfield before striking a low shot more in hope than expectation. A surprised Gordon should have saved at the near post but the ball squirmed over his arms into the net.

The tie looked destined for extra time as the game wore on, but Hearts enjoyed a helping of luck which was just about deserved when Kirk broke inside from the right after 86 minutes and unleashed a shot which took a deflection of Kevin James’ back and sped over the head of Ferguson into the net.

Hearts: Gordon; Neilson, Pressley, McKenna, Kisnorbo; Hartley, Simmons (Wyness 80), Severin, Valois; Kirk, De Vries. Subs: Moilanen, Maybury, McCann, MacFarlane.

Falkirk: Ferguson; Lawrie, Hughes, James, McPherson; MacKenzie, Latapy (Rahim 61), Sharp, Nicholls (McAnespie 48); Xausa, McMenamin (Colquhoun 87). Subs: Scally, Hill.

Taken from the Scotsman