Victory a fitting end to Craig and Peter's era

PAUL KIDDIE AT TYNECASTLE

HEARTS 3
(McKenna 33, Hartley 81, Wyness 90)

DUNDEE 0

HOUSTON had a problem - his boss had already left for Leicester City.

But the Tynecastle No.2 ensured his mission was accomplished by guiding the Jambos to a comfortable victory over Dundee before he, too, left on a voyage of discovery to the Walkers Stadium.

It was the last act of a partnership which had brought remarkable success to the Gorgie outfit in recent seasons and ensured at least a satisfactory end to what had been a tumultuous few days at the club.

Football can change in the twinkling of an eye and less than a week after seeing his side defeat arch rivals Hibs in the first Edinburgh derby of the campaign, Levein had moved south to the East Midlands to become the new Foxes manager.

On his departure from Tynecastle, Levein had said the best thing for all concerned was for people to forget about him as quickly as possible as the club embarked on a new era. And judging by the surprising lack of any vocal acknowledgement from the stands for his achievements in firmly establishing the Jambos as the third force in Scotland, supporters apparently took him at his word.

The fans may have hastily forgotten their former boss with perhaps thoughts firmly trained on the appointment of his successor - but the team was still very much in Levein’s mind as he watched Leicester draw 0-0 at Cardiff on Saturday.

Anxious to discover how Hearts had fared against the struggling Dark Blues, the former Gorgie chief was on the phone to the Tynecastle backroom staff to find out the score moments after the final whistle.

He needn’t have worried, though, with the players doing him - and themselves - proud with another vital home victory under the most trying of circumstances, goals from Kevin McKenna, Paul Hartley and Dennis Wyness easing Hearts into fourth place in the SPL, just three points behind this weekend’s opponents Aberdeen.

"Saturday wasn’t about Peter Houston getting a good result in his final game. It was nothing to do with that," said Houston.

"It was about the players and trusting them to get the job done and they showed once again that whoever the new manager may be, he will be inheriting a solid base of players who are prepared to listen and work their socks off. One thing that this squad can never be criticised for is lack of effort and they put in another great shift."

While the home side had goalkeeper Craig Gordon to thank for keeping the visitors at bay with two early excellent stops from Fabian Caballero and Steve Lovell after a sluggish start - a fault quite understandable given the emotional parting with the coach less than 24 hours earlier - there was only ever going to be one winner after Jonay Hernandez was dismissed for a foul on McKenna in the 25th minute.

Houston queried whether it was a penalty but having awarded the foul, Craig Thomson had no choice other than to red card the full-back.

Although skipper Steven Pressley shouldered the responsibility, he smashed the spot-kick off the crossbar for his second consecutive miss following his blunder against Celtic at Parkhead two weeks earlier.

That was a real downer for the captain and the team but with the extra man, their numerical superiority was always going to prove decisive.

With Mark de Vries still recovering from the effects of a poisoned toe, McKenna was the hosts’ target man in attack and the industrious Canadian caused problems for the visitors throughout the game with his prowess in the air.

Two minutes after the penalty miss, the stand-in striker was also denied by the bar as his looping header from Paul Hartley’s deep cross came within inches of breaking the deadlock.

Hearts had another great chance when good work from the lively Ramon Pereira and Jamie McAllister presented Patrick Kisnorbo with a fine shooting chance but the Aussie star blasted his effort from the edge of the area well over the top.

Hearts were not to be denied, though, and the opener arrived with 33 minutes on the clock, Pereira again the supplier.

The Spaniard can be too greedy at times and perhaps not alert enough to the correct final ball, but on this occasion he unlocked the Dundee defence with a pass to McKenna who outpaced Bobby Mann to clip a shot over Derek Soutar, whose attempted save, it has to be said, left something to be desired.

The tension among the home fans was lifted by the goal but despite getting their noses in front and with an extra man, for long periods afterwards Hearts struggled to make the most of their advantage. They rarely looked like conceding but found it difficult to carve out clear-cut opportunities in front of Soutar.

McKenna saw another header rebound off the bar six minutes after the restart before Maybury and Pereira were denied by Soutar and Tom Hutchinson respectively.

It had all become a bit laboured for Hearts by the time Houston made a telling double substitution, Graham Weir and Neil Janczyk coming on for Kisnorbo and Joe Hamill with 11 minutes remaining. How the change worked!

Two minutes after stepping off the bench Weir set up Hartley, who drilled a low shot wide of Soutar into the right-hand corner of the net and as the match entered injury time, Janczyk did well to set up Wyness who fairly rattled home his first goal of the season with a finish which belied his current lack of confidence.

"We scored some good goals and it was great to see Dennis Wyness get on the scoresheet as that is what he definitely needed," said Houston.

"The crowd got agitated because we couldn’t get the second one but we did create chances and hit the woodwork a couple of times. It was vital we got a result before the Schalke game on Thursday and we got the breaks at the right time on Saturday.

"I was absolutely delighted with the effort and commitment the boys put in. Confidence is a major thing in football and we kept at it after Dundee had a man sent off."

Houston said his own emotional farewell to the squad after the match but leaves happy in the knowledge the new management team will have plenty of talent at its disposal.

"I have been at Tynecastle eight and a half years and have some great memories so of course it was an emotional day for me," he said.

"I have seen a lot of good times and bad times but there have been more highs than lows. I feel it is the right time to go as eight-and-a-half years is a long time and players sometimes like to hear a different voice.

"But I hope everything goes well for the club. There is a great squad of players at Tynecastle, they have some massive games coming up and I sincerely hope they get through them."

Taken from the Scotsman