Czech influence keeps Hearts pounding

And why not? Celtic are struggling under the management of Gordon Strachan and Rangers show regular signs of fragility. Hearts, on the other hand, seem to be going from strength to strength.

Under Jimmy Calderwood, Aberdeen are no pushovers, as they proved last week by defeating Rangers. Yet even with five players across midfield they could not contain the effervescent Hearts duo of Rudi Skacel and Paul Hartley.

There was another capacity crowd to see Hearts retain top place and the support was full of noisy confidence. This is the season of the Edinburgh Festival, but Hearts do not intend to play on the fringes. However George Burley, the manager, wants his players and the fans to keep their feet on the ground. “We have started well but it is only four games in. Halfway through the season we can look at it again,” he said.

His side play neat football through the midfield, have a solid back four and big and powerful front players, but they are still looking to recruit.Skacel, a summer arrival on loan from Marseilles, opened the scoring after 20 minutes, driving a loose ball low into the far corner of the net.

Aberdeen’s defence was again confused for the second goal, when the ball fell for Michal Pospisil, a substitute and, like Skacel, a Czech, to volley home his first goal for the club from 13 yards.

Between the goals Hearts were so dominant that Craig Gordon, in their goal, may have been redundant. “We lost too many battles in the first half and Hearts deserved to win the game,” Calderwood said. Indeed they did.

Taken from timesonline.co.uk