Hartley the pulse as Hearts beat

MIKE AITKEN AT TYNECASTLE

Hearts 3 Hartley (16), Wilson (og 65),McKenna (72)
Dundee Utd 1 McIntyre (52)

Referee: C Richmond. Attendance: 10,265

PAUL Hartley’s emergence as a creative central midfield player with a voracious appetite for the ball has done much to sustain Hearts’ reputation as the third best side in the Premierleague during a season when many of their performances have erred on the side of dourly effective rather than ebullient.

Even a team as well organised and defensively assured as Hearts - it was interesting to hear Craig Levein confess afterwards his players started the second-half believing their one-goal lead would be sufficient to claim all three points against United - need individual players with the insight and the technical ability to produce a touch of the unexpected under pressure.

Having already given his side the lead with a smartly taken first-half goal when he ran beyond the strikers to control Phil Stamp’s deft flick and angle a shot past Paul Gallagher, it was Hartley who contributed the best moment of the second-half when he delivered a piercing long ball onto the head of Kevin McKenna which set up Hearts’ third goal as well as their ninth home league win of the season.

A key figure last year as a central midfielder at St Johnstone in the First Division, Hartley first made his name as a forward with Raith Rovers and Hibs.

Indeed, many felt it was in a position wide on the right side of midfield that this slim, slightly built footballer might be expected to thrive on his return to the hurly burly of the top flight.

Hartley did figure in that role for Hearts earlier in the season but lost his place in the side after an undistinguished performance against Hibs at Easter Road in August when Levein felt the player could have rolled up his sleeves an extra notch during the derby match. Once Hartley was prepared to add industry to his repertoire, he’s seized the opportunity to become a key figure in maintaining the gap between Hearts and the rest of the challengers for third spot behind the Old Firm.

"Anyone who has watched our games this season will know that we believe in the player and that he’s never looked back since increasing his work rate," observed Levein. "With that has come a belief in himself and Paul has shown he has the quality required to play at this level. He’s turned into one of our most consistent performers and I think there’s more to come from him. Against United he scored one goal, set up another and generally worked like a Trojan."

At 27, Hartley is young enough to possess the athleticism needed to make an impact in the Scottish game as well as old enough to understand more of the subtleties associated with attacking from midfield. The player has vision. As his coach conceded afterwards, Levein was urging Hartley to play the ball along the ground when he defied advice from the touchline and floated that inch-perfect pass through the air to McKenna.

"I enjoyed scoring my first goal at Tynecastle and I hit the pass to big Kevin when I saw him make a move at the back post," said Hartley. "If you give him a half decent ball he’s a great header of the ball and I thought the chance was really well taken. I prefer to play in central midfield and it’s been great to get the chance in that position with Hearts over the past couple of months.

"When I fell out of the first team I went away and worked hard in training and applied myself in the under-21 games. I had to give myself a kick up the backside and realised that as a new signing I wasn’t just going to walk into the team."

Having given Celtic a fright the week before, Dundee United gave a decent account of themselves for the best part of an hour and merited their equaliser when Jim McIntyre got on the blind side of McKenna from Collin Sammuel’s header.

The last time this reporter saw United was in the Dundee derby when Andy McLaren and Billy Dodds formed a strike force stronger on experience than pace.

Against one of the more able defences in the country, Sammuel’s fleetness of foot and McIntyre’s acute positional sense caused Hearts more than a few problems and suggested substantial improvement in the Tannadice ranks.

Although Levein believed McIntyre’s goal had already served as a wake-up call to his players, the coach’s decision to take McKenna out of a three-man central defence and play him on the right side of a four man midfield - a position where he figures for Canada - proved a match winning gambit. The arrival of Andy Kirk as a replacement for Dennis Wyness up front also added another attacking option and enabled Hearts to play the ball over the top. The mobile Kirk worried United’s defenders and might have scored a couple of goals if the opportunities had fallen on his left foot rather than his right.

As it was, Hearts regained the lead when Mark Wilson, who scored an own goal on his last visit to Tynecastle, repeated the feat after he got in the way of a ball played into the six yard box by Mark de Vries and inadvertently knocked it over the line. It was cruel on a United side which, up until that point, had made Craig Gordon work harder than Gallacher.

Once United’s heads dropped, however, Hearts were dominant during the last 30 minutes or so and coasted to victory.

Six points clear in third place with a game in hand, the Edinburgh side now face important matches this week against Livingston on Tuesday and Dunfermline on Saturday which could go a long way to securing a place in next season’s UEFA Cup.

Taken from the Scotsman