Feyenoord 3 Hearts 0

A Dirk Kuyt double and a Bart Goor strike provided the goals which allowed the Dutch side to kick-off their Group A campaign with a win at the De Kuip stadium.

But Feyenoord and Hearts had goals ruled offside - shots from Salomon Kalou and Kevin McKenna - by Danish referee Tonny Kolbech Poulsen, even though both looked as though they should both have stood.

Hearts headed into this game knowing Feyenoord were strongly fancied to take the three points and their task was made even more difficult by the news Mark de Vries would not play a part.

The Dutch striker had taken a painkilling injection in the last round to grab the two goals against Braga which sent Hearts into the group stages of the competition and head coach Craig Levein had hoped for another fairytale ending from the big Dutchman.

This time he was struggling with a poisoned toe and spent Tuesday night in hospital hooked up to an intravenous drip feeding him an intensive course of antibiotics in the hope of reducing the swelling.

But he was forced to admit failure and headed home to Edinburgh earlier today to leave the sole striking responsibilities to central defender McKenna.

The signs that Feyenoord would be dangerous were evident right from the outset and they took the lead after 22 minutes.

Patrick Paauwe flighted a cross into the path of Kuyt who nodded past the helpless Craig Gordon. Karim Saidi appeared to be in an offside position but the goal was allowed to stand by the Danish referee.

Feyenoord had already had the ball in the back of the net before the goal when Kalou's diving header beat goalkeeper Gordon - but the effort was ruled offside and Hearts also suffered from a controversial offside decision.

Joe Hamill played the ball out to McKenna and he fired home but the effort was deemed to be offside because of Paul Hartley's position, even though he did not appear to be interfering with play.

Levein made his first change of the game six minutes before the break when Neil MacFarlane made way for Graham Weir in what looked to be a tactical move by the Jambos boss.

The referee was forced to make another controversial decision shortly after the restart when Weir went to ground under pressure from Saidi and claimed for the penalty but he refused to award the spot-kick.

Instead, it was Feyenoord who found the back of the net when Kalou released Goor into the box and he bulleted past the Hearts goalkeeper from 10 yards after 59 minutes.

Goor could have added to his tally when Kalou swept past Robbie Neilson before squaring into the path of the goalkeeper but his shot was weak and easily held by Gordon.

Only a superb piece of goalkeeping from Gordon prevented Hearts from falling further behind.

Substitute Thomas Buffel provided the cross for Kuyt's thunderous effort but the young Hearts goalkeeper produced an excellent one-handed save to tip over the crossbar.

Hearts showed they still hadn't given up with just over ten minutes remaining when Hamill unleashed a long, low drive which fell just wide of the upright.

But any hope of salvaging anything from the game was killed off when Kuyt met Goor's cross to fire home his second goal of the game from inside the six-yard box after 82 minutes.

Teams:

Feyenoord Babos, Saidi, Bosschaart, Kuijt, Ono, Goor, Paauwe, Kalou (Buffel 67), Basto (Mtiglia 64), Castelen (Lazovic 80), Zuiverloon.

Subs Not Used: Lodewijks, Ghali, Loovens, Gyan.

Booked: Bosschaart, Mtiglia.

Goals: Kuijt 22, Goor 58, Kuijt 83.

Hearts Gordon, Maybury, Kisnorbo (Stewart 82), Pressley, McKenna, Webster, Hartley, MacFarlane (Weir 40), Neilson, McAllister (Wyness 70), Hamill.

Subs Not Used: Moilanen, Janczyk, Sloan, Berra.

Booked: Webster, Pressley, Maybury.

Att: 28,000

Ref: Tonny Kolbech Poulsen (Denmark).

Taken from sportinglife.com