YOU CAN'T BEAT A DAY OUT WITH THE VLADS

VLAD the Impaler and his blood red army are on the march. The pretender to the SPL throne and his 6000-strong hoard rampaged a few miles along the M8 yesterday into West Lothian where they pillaged Paul Lambert and his unfortunates.

But these marauders in maroon don't plan on stopping long in Livingston.

Eight points clear of the champions after just six games and five ahead of Celtic, they believe the world is theirs for the taking - or at the very least the league title.

Vladimir Romanov just might be the real deal after all.

The Lithuanian revolutionary boarded a supporters' bus from the Orwell Lounge to make the trip west and sat with his people to survey the carnage his crack squad wreaked at Almondvale.

After this, their sixth straight win, it's time George Burley's side stop with the pretense. They are title contenders alright and with each passing week their credentials grow stronger.

At times yesterday the power and pace of their play took the breath away and it was all too much for a Livingston side gasping for air already and in serious danger of going under.

There were flickers of life from Lambert's side who tried to make a fight of it but only after they had found themselves 3-0 down to goals from Rudi Skacel, Andy Webster and Paul Hartley.

And, although Paul Dalglish pulled one back before half time, the outstanding Hartley slotted a killer fourth from the spot on a day when even Setanta's cameras had pitched up to capture proof of this Eastern uprising Yes, this is deadly serious alright and with an increasingly ragged Rangers now less than two weeks away from a trip to Tynecastle, Romanov's rebels look capable of inflicting a mortal blow on the holders before their title defence has even properly begun.

It took Skacel just 11 minutes to notch his sixth successive league goal,by which time he had already scared Livi half to death.

This bouncy little Czech rattled a deflected shot into the side netting of Roddie McKenzie's goal after just three minutes and soon after his marker, Richard Brittain, went into the book for a crude attempt to slow Skacel down. It did not work.

In fact there was something irresistible about the manner in which Skacel and his team-mates had opened up and it so it was no surprise when the breakthrough came early.

Skacel started the move with a lively dart down the left and a threaded pass into the path of countryman Roman Bednar.

Bednar hit the bye-line before standing up a delicious cross to the back post where the clean shaven Hartley was arriving.

He resisted the temptation to go for goal and instead popped his header back into the six-yard box where Skacel came darting in to bundle the ball over the line.

It was almost 2-0 in 23 minutes when Bednar glanced Steven Pressley's hanging cross into Edgar Jankauskas but somehow McKenzie stuck out a foot to block the shot and send the ball spinning tantalisingly along his line.

How it stayed out was anyone's guess but McKenzie's luck would not last much longer. He managed just another four minutes before he was scooping the ball out from the back of his net gain.

Bednar's pace and power had caused the initial problem, forcing Manu Dorado into giving upa free-kick on the edge of his own area. Dorado was booked for the challenge but that was the least of Livi's worries - their entire defence was about to go missing.

Jamie McAllister's pinpoint delivery found Websterunmarked at the back post and the Scotland defender needed only to send his header back across goal and into the huge void at McKenzie's left-hand post Livi rallied briefly but this merely allowed Craig Gordon to remind us why he is Scotland's undisputed No.1 with saves from Neil Barrett and Dave Mackay - the second of which, as he threw himself low to his left to claw out Mackay's flashing shot, really was quite spectacular Then in 36 minutes Hearts fashioned the move of the half to storm into a three-goal lead.

Bednar was simply too hot for the defence as he loitered just long enough on the shoulders of his markers to stay onside before racing clear onto a delightful through ball from Jankauskas.

He looked up to see Hartley barrelling in at the back post and his superbly weighted cross required only the simplest of finishing touches.

Devastating stuff but Hearts eased off before the break and allowed Livi to regroup. Barrett was booked for another crunching tackle on Skacel but it was namesake Graeme Barrett who was about to do more serious damage with two thunderous free-kicks.

His first looked to have forced another fabulous one-handed stop from Gordon although ref Dougie McDonald seemed not to notice and awarded Hearts a goal kick when it ought to have been a Livingston corner.

Then in 41 minutes Barrett tried again after he was floored by a Julien Brellier trip. The Frenchman was booked for the foul but Barrett dusted himself down and took aim for a second time.

Gordon got down smartly to make a decent save fromthe rasping low drive but Dalglish reacted quickest to nudge the ball home from a couple of yards.

This really ought to have been a wake-up call for Burley's side but their lethargy lasted into the second half and almost allowed Livi back from the dead.

Neil Barrett should certainly have done better then loop a header wide after being picked out by a Derek Adams cross and then Dalglish should have helped himself to a second goal when he beat the offside trap to go one on one with Gordon.

He looked to be picking his spot but shot wide of the left-hand post and was replaced soon after by James McPake.

Burley responded by sending on Stephen Simmons for Jankauskas and pushing Skacel up to partner Bednar in attack.

And in 63 minutes the result was put beyond any doubt when McDonald pointed to the spot after McAllister had hurled himself at a hanging cross and tried something spectacular.

McAllister never looked in danger of connecting but Neil Barrett was too close to know and tugged at the midfielder's shirt as hewas in mid-air.

Hartley stepped up to send McKenzie the wrong way from 12 yards and Barrett, perhaps fortunate not to have his misery compounded with a second yellow card, skulked off to be replaced by Martin Scott.

Scott wasted little time in picking up a booking for a foul on Bednar but Lambert's players knew now for sure they were fighting a lost cause.

And to ensure their spirits were broken,Gordon pulled off one last stunning save to reach a Adams volley

MAN OF THE MATCH Paul Hartley (Hearts

Taken from the Daily Record