Skacel fires Hearts’ perfect start

Perhaps the most compelling moment came in the aftermath, when George Burley, the Hearts manager, sat in reflection. “We’re not quite strong enough,” he said. “We’re still looking to improve the squad and push on.” He sat back and smiled. The source of his satisfaction can be easily identified. Hearts have now scored 13 goals in four games and their last three matches have brought clean sheets. Numbers and figures provide an idea of the progress being made, but there are other factors, too.

Burley’s side are powerful, adept, and they are gathering speed. In Rudi Skacel and Paul Hartley there is a creative impulse, while in Julien Brellier, Edgaras Jankauskas and Roman Bednar there is a physical seam. And the defence is solid, a barrier that does not seem frail. “We’ve started well, but halfway through the season we’ll see where we are,” added Burley. “When I took the squad to Dublin (in pre-season) I thought it was going to be a really difficult job. But we brought some players in and the others have responded.”

So, too, have the Hearts supporters. As the fans began to gather round Tynecastle before kick-off, you could feel the sense of occasion. And when the teams ran out, the atmosphere climbed up to shake your senses, the noise, the colour, the very thrill of expectancy. And the game began with a shuddering urgency.

Under Burley, Hearts have been playing slick football but with a forceful directness. They do not stand on ceremony when it comes to moving the ball forward, though in a controlled, selective manner. The width of the team is its definition and when Skacel scurried down the left flank, his cross was met by the leaping and stretching Jankauskas, but the Lithuanian’s header floated upwards and away like a released balloon.

Aberdeen, with Gary Dempsey pressing forward from midfield as much as possible, were set out to counter, but it seemed to dilute their venture. The best opportunity they could muster was a Scott Severin shot from distance that failed to trouble Craig Gordon. “We played in front of them and moved it side to side, but we didn’t hurt them,” grumbled Jimmy Calderwood, the visiting side’s manager.

That Aberdeen attack brought a snarl of frustration from Burley, but he is learning to have trust in his team. In the 23rd minute, Zander Diamond was tentative as he challenged Jankauskas in the air and the ball broke to Skacel at the edge of the box. The area around him was as congested as a packed train carriage, but he shimmied into enough space to drill a left-foot shot past Ryan Esson for his fourth goal in four games. Burley turned away with an impassive look, his emotions withheld.

It was to be a day of confrontation for Aberdeen, and Russell Anderson left the field to receive stitches just before half-time with blood pouring from his nose. The Aberdeen captain came out for the second half, but he only lasted 13 minutes before he had to be replaced, blood again smearing his face.

There was less assurance in the second half, the game more harried and unsettled. Hearts continued to pepper the ball into the Aberdeen box and there were scrambles, moments of tension, but the scrappiness kept hold. Two Hearts substitutes combined neatly in the 84th minute, though, when Michal Pospisil’s cross was volleyed off the face of the crossbar by Jamie McAllister. The woodwork shuddered, stunned by the contact.

Yet Pospisil was to have his moment. He rose with Diamond to meet a long, hopeful ball forward and, as the Aberdeen defender clutched the back of his head and claimed a foul, the Czech hooked a volley from the edge of the box past Esson. Diamond had to leave the field for treatment to a gash, but Calderwood’s dismay was not assuaged.

“He’s got to learn,” the Aberdeen manager said. “He got shoved off the ball for the first goal. We’ve got two centre-backs with stitches. We lost too many personal battles out there. In the second half, I don’t think many of my players thought we could win and I don’t like that.”

It is Hearts who are enjoying the early-season skirmishes.

STAR MAN: Rudi Skacel (Hearts)

Player ratings. Hearts: Gordon 6, Neilson 6, Pressley 6, Webster 6, Fyssas 6, Mikoliunas 5 (McAllister 45min, 6), Hartley 7, Brellier 6, Skacel 7 (Simmons 88min, 6), Jankauskas 7, Bednar 6 (Pospisil 79min, 6)

Aberdeen: Esson 6, Diamond 5, Anderson 6 (Muirhead 59min, 6), Considine 6 (Foster 83min, 6), Nicholson 6, Severin 6, Clark 6, Dempsey 5 (Stewart 77min, 6), McNaughton 7, Smith 6, Lovell 5

Booked: McAllister 54, Lovell 58, Smith 61

Referee: M McCurry

Attendance: 16,139

Taken from timesonline.co.uk