Pereira ends Burley's perfect record

LIVINGSTON 1-0 HEARTS

ALAN PATTULLO
AT ALMONDVALE

HEARTS endured a first defeat of the season last night as George Burley's much-changed team fell to goal from a player whose departure from Tynecastle in the summer helped make room for Vladimir Romanov's exciting band of recruits.

Eight wins in succession was the return for such an aggressive clear-out but revolutions require some blood to be shed and so it proved last night for table-topping Hearts at Almondvale as Livingston offered manager Paul Lambert some respite. A place in the quarter-finals of the CIS Insurance Cup presents him with some succour after a desperate start to the season.

Ramon Pereira's strike just after half-time separated the sides and ruined Burley's 100 per cent start to the campaign, although the result will be more keenly felt by the home fans than those populating the away stands. The Hearts fans' thoughts are focused on a higher prize ahead of Rangers' crucial visit on Saturday, although Burley might be the first to admonish them. The Hearts manager used last night as proof there is still much work to be done at Tynecastle.

For Livingston some much-needed impetus may now have been gathered as they attempt to repair a league season that has already gone awry. "I hope this is the kick-start," said Lambert.

The home side bravely held on as Hearts mounted a desperate comeback attempt, with substitute Rudi Skacel seeing his late shot saved by Roddy McKenzie and Stephen Simmons crashing the rebound against defender Greg Strong. Burley wasn't for making excuses at the end, nor did he apologise for fielding a weakened team. His hand had been forced by an injury list which numbered seven, and included striker Edgar Jankauskas. "It just emphasises my point," he said after congratulating Livingston for a victory he described as entirely deserved.

"I have been saying for a long time that we don't have the quality and the strength in the squad to cope. It's obvious to me. The players were up for it but we just didn't have enough quality. It can take a couple of seasons before we have a squad to challenge the Old Firm. Unless I can bring in the quality I am looking for we won't go forward."

The fervour of the cup hardly enticed out the Livingston fans, who required only their own ground's main stand in which to be accommodated. It was a measly turn-out, one admittedly not helped by the driving rain. Perhaps trepidation also adversely affected the crowd, with Hearts having already demolished their side on league duty.

This, though, was a much changed Hearts line-up. The most marked absence from the starting XI was that of Skacel, the man-of-the-season-so-far having scored in each of his side's seven Premierleague games.

The early autumn conditions of driving rain and gusting wind offered Hearts' Brazilian midfielder Samuel Camazzola a bracing first start in the Scottish game. The adverse weather offered Livingston some hope on what was set to be a difficult night for both teams and indeed the home team were the first to offer any real threat when Paul Dalglish drove an angled shot just wide of Craig Gordon's post in 22 minutes.

While Hearts might have been forgiven for a slight slipping of focus this is a competition which can provide a route to glory for teams without the benefit of a benefactor's millions, and already has for Livingston. The trophy has spent a season on display at Almondvale and Lambert's team were clearly keen to re-capture a proud moment in the young club's history, and in doing so locate a panacea for the present troubles. Although the desire was there, so too was the evidence of a league season from which Livingston have reaped only one point. The young Hearts debutant Jamie Mole might have done better than turn into defender Manu Dorado when released by Paul Hartley for what should have been a clear run on goal in the final minute of the first half.

The game desperately required something significant to ignite it and nine minutes after the re-start this arrived courtesy of Pereira. The Spaniard had done next to nothing in the first half but leapt into prominence when latching on to an excellent Derek Adams cross from the right, with Gordon utterly exposed in the Hearts goal. It was the first time this season Hearts had lost the opening goal and Burley's side were thus offered a new examination, one which required grit as well as the unmistakable talent that has motivated them so far this season. That said, they almost immediately conceded a second, when Simmons deflected substitute Richard Brittain's corner just past his own keeper's post.

Burley sent for the calvary in response, with seven-goal Skacel summoned from the bench. So too was striker Calum Elliot, with Mole replaced. But Livingston continued to press, with Irish international Graham Barrett making the evening an extremely uncomfortable one for his marker, the increasingly harassed Steven Pressley. Another Adams cross had Gordon fumbling beneath his bar and Burley responded to the deteriorating situation in eccentric fashion, pushing up Andy Webster to centre-forward. Christopher Berra took over at centre-half as Hearts attempted the kind of salvage operation not required so far this season.

Taken from the Scotsman