Burley Czechs in and Hearts fly

BARRY ANDERSON

Kilmarnock 2
Hearts 4

THE dust having settled, it was indeed a fine start, but anyone present inside Rugby Park on Saturday afternoon would have assumed, with a little foreboding, that Hearts under George Burley will soon represent a force which is recognised with far more significance as the domestic season evolves. In a word, "potential" summed up the afternoon's work rather perfectly.

As the manager conducted his SPL initiation in his native west-coast region to the welcoming tune of "there's only one George Burley", it took just five minutes for the impression to arrive that big people with big ideas are now properly in control of the football operations at Tynecastle.

Edgaras Jankauskas, the striker with a European Cup winner's medal in his back pocket, and, come the end of the 90 minutes, the entire Kilmarnock back four as well, executed an expert swivel of the hips to turn past defender Simon Ford and promptly had the feet clipped from beneath him for his troubles. As 3,200 travelling Jambos roared their disapproval to a deafening level in appeal for a free-kick, Burley stood in front the dugout, both arms raised in the air in a "how about it?" kind of fashion.

The message being conveyed was clear - we have arrived here with a self-professed big-boys tag, so protect our superior players and let them flourish in the way we intend. Four of the Hears match squad, Jankauskas, Roman Bednar, Saulius Mikoliunas and Deividas Cesnauskis, are on loan from FBK Kaunas, but it is clear already that everyone at Tynecastle has established where their bread is buttered. Not that Burley could ever come across as arrogant, he just believes staunchly in what he is doing. So, it appears, do the fans.

They out-shouted and almost out-numbered the pitiful home support. The stand behind Craig Gordon's first-half goal was full to the brim, and there also existed a small pocket of Edinburgh inhabitants in the main stand as numbers flocked to Ayrshire intent on witnessing the first proper symbol of Hearts' intentions for the season.

An 11th-minute Steven Naismith goal wasn't intended, and momentarily exposed a defensive lapse as the diminutive home striker sneaked in behind a dithering Steven Pressley to take a one-touch finish and tuck the ball beyond Gordon.

Rudi Skacel, another on loan but this time from Marseille, lashed home the equaliser a minute later after Alan Combe had parried his first shot from a Jamie McAllister cross. With Kilmarnock beginning to seriously toil in negotiating the power and craft of both Jankauskas and Bednar, the aerial threat represented by Hearts' new-look strike partnership was proving overly tempting for some of their colleagues.

Burley was forever poised on the touchline throughout the first half, motioning his palms towards the turf as a signal to his players that he wanted the ball on the floor. It took until the interval for the message to actually be conveyed thoroughly in the confines of the visitors' dressing-room, and after the break Messrs Pressley, Webster, Neilson and McAllister applied their manager's philosophy more strictly.

Bednar enjoyed a competent first-half which had already promised much for his career at Tynecastle. Short of match practice, Hearts' striking options were such that the Czech remained absolutely crucial to their hopes of edging ahead of Kilmarnock, and the decision was taken not to rest him but run him for the entire 15 minutes of half-time to prevent any seizing up of leg muscles which could have occurred were he seated in the dressing-room.

The ploy paid full dividends just a minute after referee Alan Freeland restarted the match as the newest signing nodded Hearts ahead. McAllister's throw-in was lofted to the back post by Skacel, headed back across goal by Jankauskas and converted, albeit via a post, by the striker.

Taking the lead acted like a tonic on the visiting side, with Ford and his central-defensive partner Gordon Greer taking on the look of burst balloons at conceding the lead after their fine opening to the match. For a player nicknamed "Go-Go", Greer was more like "Stop-Stop".

Then, precisely on the hour mark, a moment that Burley would have intended as perfectly symbolic of Hearts' future with him at the helm. McAllister fed Bednar halfway inside the Kilmarnock half. He instantly changed direction in his inside-left channel and fed Hartley bursting forward from midfield. The Scotland internationalist untilised Mikoliunas to his right, allowing the mercurial Lithuanian to cut inside and let rip with a 25-yarder that flew beyond Combe.

Occasionally narky, occasionally brilliant. It is difficult at times to anticipate which Mikoliunas you will get in a Hearts shirt. As Miko celebrated an undeniably fabulous strike, a 5ft by 3ft flag of Lithuania was unveiled by the Hearts supporters behind the goal to which he had gone to accept acclaim. Who said the eastern European influence in Gorgie wasn't being fully embraced?

Fitting, though, for a side still containing seven natives, that the comforting fourth goal was scored by a Scotsman. Greer had bulleted a header past Gordon from a Gary Locke free-kick on 73 minutes to bring the score back to 3-2, but Paul Hartley hammered in a penalty two minutes from time to secure victory.

If Rangers and Celtic were supposed to note the final scoreline from Rugby Park as a signal of Burley's intent, then they would be wise to be a touch wary of the threat from Edinburgh this season. But the wily old foxes of Glasgow will also have noted definite defensive uncertainty which permitted Kilmarnock two goals of their own. Also aware of the deficiencies will be the man whose job it is to correct them.

"We had to weather the storm at times," admitted Burley. "We didn't have any passengers and I was impressed with the work ethic of the team. I knew Kilmarnock could make it tough because I saw them play Southampton two weeks ago. I also knew our side had not played together competitively."

Once they have done so for a few weeks, there may have to be bibs administered at the Tynecastle turnstiles to cope with all the drooling.

Taken from the Scotsman