Hearts 2 Kilmarnock 1

A fine Paul Hartley double gave Hearts a 2-1 win over Kilmarnock in their CIS Insurance Cup third round tie at Tynecastle.

The former Hibs player drove home a powerful drive from 25 yards in the 15th minute to give the Jambos an interval advantage.

Hartley then doubled their lead just after the break, finishing off the best move of the game with a strike from 12 yards.

The visitors pulled a goal back quickly through Peter Leven but the Edinburgh team held on to clinch a quarter-final spot.

The first real effort of the match came in the fifth minute when a Robbie Neilson cross from the right was pushed away by Killie keeper Alan Combe, but only to Patrick Kisnorbo 16 yards from goal.

The Australian's goal-bound effort was blocked, but the ball fell kindly to striker Mark de Vries only five yards out, but the Dutchman put the ball over the bar.

Five minutes later, de Vries worked a one-two with Dennis Wyness at the edge of the box, but his angled toe-poke went well wide of Combe's right-hand post.

The first goal eventually arrived for the home side in the 15th minute but owed a little to luck.

A Jamie McAllister corner from the right to the edge of the box was missed completely by Joe Hamill and, just as the Hearts fans groaned, Hartley slammed home a 25-yard drive through a wall of players.

The home side were on top and, on 34 minutes, Wyness had a half-chance to test Combe, but his weak shot from 16 yards went wide of the target.

Three minutes later, the former Inverness man had another effort from the edge of the box, after a good interchange with Hamill, but his low drive was well held by the Killie keeper.

The home side looked to be coasting in the 52nd minute when they scored a well-worked second goal, Hartley again doing the damage.

A cross-field pass from substitute Robert Sloan, on for de Vries at the interval, was cushioned into the path of Hartley by Hamill.

And the midfielder took just one touch before confidently knocking the ball past Combe from 12 yards.

Kilmarnock looked stunned but, four minutes later, the Ayrshire men pulled a goal back when Leven got beyond the Jambos defence, picked up an Allan Johnston pass and drove an angled shot from 14 yards past Gordon.

With de Vries off injured, the Gorgie men had lost a bit of impetus going forward and Kilmarnock began to press them back for the first time in the game.

Hearts' slender lead looked increasingly fragile as the second half wore on, but the Rugby Park side were being frustrated in their attempts to get at Gordon by a combination of determination and desperation by the home defence.

But the pressure on the home side eased in the final stages and a fine drive from Alan Maybury had Combe scrambling to push to safety.

Taken from sportinglife.com