Early burst seals it for Hearts

Robertson’s new Hearts generation were too strong for Jefferies’ understrength Kilmarnock side, as goals from Lee Wallace, Lee Miller and Deveidas Cesnauskis swept the Edinburgh side into the quarter-finals, where they will play Livingston on Sunday, February 27.

Not even the loss of a goal in stoppage time, when Kris Boyd converted a penalty after Wallace had brought down Allan Johnston, could dampen Hearts’ night.

The familiarity of these two sides for each other had sown only a contempt for caution. The third meeting in ten days prompted little defensive football in a frenetic opening, but it was Hearts — who won a league meeting 3-0 last Saturday — who seized the initiative in a tie that was so taut and close when it ended 2-2 at Tynecastle first time around.

Stephen Simmons gave an early warning of Hearts’ adventure when he burst into the box after just three minutes to gather a cutback from Saulius Mikoliunas, but swept his shot wide. Simmons produced another driving run that almost created an opening for Miller.

So it was little surprise when Wallace continued in similar vein and opened the scoring after just six minutes. The teenager, in only his third game, embarked on an ambitious 50-yard run but when no one closed him down, he exchanged passes with Dennis Wyness and advanced to thrash a composed left-foot finish beyond Alan Combe, the goalkeeper.

That illuminating moment was missed by much of the travelling support from Edinburgh, who had been delayed by a road accident on the M77. However, most were in their seats when Miller doubled that advantage seven minutes later.

The striker reacted quickest when Paul Hartley whipped in a free kick that was deflected by the head of Liam Fontaine into the path of Miller at the back post. A flex of his neck muscles ensured that a powerful header was redirected into the roof of the net to raucous Hearts celebrations.

Kilmarnock were bemused and the tie could have been over a few minutes later when Hartley’s surge carried him beyond everyone. It took a dogged tackle from the backtracking David Lilley to rescue the home side.

Nor were Jefferies’ side helped by a piece of profligacy from Boyd soon after. The Scotland Under-21 striker squandered a fine low cross from Steven Naismith, hooking his shot into the side-netting when the goal beckoned.

Kilmarnock had gone into this replay shorn of many players by injury, but the 1997 Scottish Cup winners gradually crept back into the contest. Peter Leven hinted at some resistance with a 25-yard shot that skidded just wide. However, they were now vulnerable to swift counter-attacks and Mikoliunas ought to have done better than to scoop his shot over the bar after a fine piece of movement from Hartley.

Kilmarnock needed to get back into the encounter and their approach in the early stages of the second half bordered on desperation.

That meant Hearts being given plenty of scope to exploit the open spaces and their recent Lithuanian recruits, Cesnauskis and Mikoliunas, dovetailed superbly for the latter to summon up a fierce shot from the edge of the box.

The pair have barely been at Tynecastle more than a month, a “housewarming” present for Robertson from Vladmir Romanov, the Lithuanian millionaire who has taken control of the Edinburgh club.

It was felt that Romanov might have been foisting sub-standard players from his own country on Robertson but neither Cesnauskis nor Mikoliunas could be classed as anything other than international quality.

Taken from timesonline.co.uk