| Report Index--> 2005-06--> All for 20050911 | ||||
| <-Page | <-Team | Sun 11 Sep 2005 Livingston 1 Hearts 4 | Team-> | Page-> |
| <-Srce | <-Type | Times ------ Report | Type-> | Srce-> |
| George Burley | <-auth | Phil Gordon | auth-> | Douglas McDonald |
| [P Dalglish 44] | ||||
| 43 | of 048 | Rudi Skacel 10 ;Andy Webster 26 ;Paul Hartley 34 ;Paul Hartley pen 62 | L SPL | A |
Hartley gives Hearts heartBy Phil Gordon Livingston 1 Heart of Midlothian 4 VLADIMIR ROMANOV began the day at Almondvale in an orange T-shirt and later swapped it for a suit and tie. There is no change, however, for his Heart of Midlothian players — they keep the leaders’ jersey in the title race. George Burley’s team secured a sixth successive victory to extend their 100 per cent record and maintain a five-point advantage over the chasing pack. The Lithuanian millionaire is getting value for his heavy investment in players over the summer. The Hearts owner can do no wrong as far as the fans are concerned and sat among them in the first half (hence the T-shirt) in a stage-managed photo opportunity. After the interval, Romanov swiftly changed into his suit and moved over to the directors’ box. He saw Paul Hartley score his second goal of the encounter from a disputed penalty to quell any hopes of a revival from the bottom side, whose spirit rose after Paul Dalglish ate into the comfort zone supplied by Rudolf Sk ácel, Andy Webster and Hartley in a ruthless opening 34 minutes. Hartley refused to countenance talk of the title. “Ask us in May,” the Scotland player said with a smile. “Six wins out of six would have been unthinkable at the start of the season. We won the game in the first half. The manager deserves a lot of credit for bringing in so many quality players but we also have a good Scottish core, with myself, Andy (Webster), Steven Pressley and Craig Gordon.” Burley shrugged off reports that he is frustrated with Romanov’s interference in Hearts’s bulk-buying policy. “I have total authority over selection,” the manager said. “The last two players that we brought in at the deadline (Ibrahim Tall and Samuel Camazzola) were two whom Mr Romanov wanted. The rest were mine. We have never fallen out. Ideally, I would like my recommendations to come to the club, but Mr Romanov is the one who pays the money.” None of the recruits has adapted better than Skácel, the Czech Republic midfield player, who opened the scoring with a diving header from close range. Webster added a second from Hartley’s free kick, with Hartley himself giving Hearts a 3-0 half-time lead when a swift counter-attack ended with a simple tap-in from Robbie Neilson’s pass. Livingston urgently required some oxygen and Graham Barrett, making his debut after arriving on loan from Coventry City, set up Dalglish from a free kick. Any hopes of a comeback were ruined, however, when Hartley converted his second from the penalty spot after a foul by Neil Barrett.  Taken from timesonline.co.uk |
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| <-Page | <-Team | Sun 11 Sep 2005 Livingston 1 Hearts 4 | Team-> | Page-> |
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