Hearts 2 Dunfermline 0: Who can live with emperor Romanov?

No side led out by the proudly domineering Steven Pressley will ever wilt and Hearts began with a vigorous determination. For all that had happened in the hours beforehand, the players approached the match with admirable clarity of mind. Dunfermline, as bemused as the rest of us by the day’s proceedings, found themselves standing in the way of a force of will, something they could not contain. “I was looking forward to seeing George Burley because he’s a smashing guy,” said Jim Leishman, the Dunfermline manager. “I wish him all the best. He’s a great football man.”

Instead, Leishman and his side encountered Burley’s legacy: a vibrant, confident Hearts team. Only moments had passed when Rudi Skacel, the Czech midfielder, whipped his arms and tried to raise the temperature of the Tynecastle fans. It was the home side’s play, though, that was to lift their spirits. As he has been all season, Skacel was involved in the midst of Hearts’ surging assurance. His low, stinging drive deflected off a stray Dunfermline leg and bounced onto the crossbar, and from Skacel’s resulting corner, Michael Pospisil headed over.

“It was evident early on that the players were out to play the way they have been doing,” said John McGlynn, the coach who is now in temporary charge of Hearts. “There’s no doubt the players were hurt by what happened, but they wanted to maintain their unbeaten run, as the manager had stressed (last Friday). They were very focused.”

Skacel, revelling in the space he was afforded in midfield, stepped forward again and his second shot of the day found its target with sparkling intent. His white boots flashing brightly, he sent a rasping 25-yard shot flying beyond Allan McGregor, the Dunfermline goalkeeper, for his ninth goal of the season. He celebrated with his usual gusto, pointing at his left foot and then into the air, and for a moment, a brief gasp of relief, it seemed like any other Saturday for Hearts.

Dunfermline had five players strung across midfield, a formation designed to smother Hearts, but you felt that whatever the visitors did, they were destined to be the forgotten men. Their role was in the supporting cast on a day of drama for the home side. The game ended as a contest three minutes later when Pospisil picked up the ball on the edge of the box, neatly stepped to the side to make space for himself and sent a curling shot round the diving McGregor and inside the far post. It was a cleverly executed strike, and reminded you why Burley often spoke so highly of the Czech striker.

The visitors momentarily escaped into the Hearts half of the field before the interval, when Lee Makel’s cross brushed off the head of Mark Burchill and the ball spun wide of the post, but it was a fleeting interruption to the rhythm of the game and the sweeping moves that flowed in the opposite direction.

It seemed strange to look at the home dugout and not see Burley standing there, monitoring his team. The substitutes sat rigidly, silently, while McGlynn and Tom Ritchie, the fitness coach, paced around the technical area. Malcolm Webster, the goalkeeping coach brought to the club by Burley, was also there, joking with the players, while Simon Hunt, Burley’s assistant, took his usual seat in the stand. It felt as if bewilderment was everywhere.

There were few compelling moments in the second half, although Andy Webster headed wide and Makel lashed a shot over the bar. With two minutes remaining, Darren Young burst through and Pressley hauled the midfielder down on the edge of the box. Calum Murray, the referee, reached for his red card and the defender will now miss the game against Kilmarnock on Wednesday. Then comes a visit to Easter Road on Saturday. “The timing’s not perfect,” sighed McGlynn. “But we ’ll take it game by game.”

So we wonder, what next for Hearts?

STAR MAN: Rudi Skacel (Hearts)

Player ratings. Hearts: Gordon 6, Neilson 6, Pressley 6, Webster 6, Fyssas 6, Camazzola 5 (Cesnauskis 67min, 6), Brellier 6, Hartley 7, Skacel 8, Jankauskas 6, Pospisil 7 (Elliot 78min, 6)

Dunfermline: McGregor 6, Shields 6, Wilson 5 (Tod 47min, 6), Thomson 5, Zambernardi 5, Derek Young 5, Mason 6, Makel 5, Darren Young 6 (Donnelly 65min, 6), Horsted 5 (McCunnie 65min, 6), Burchill 5

Booked: Darren Young 61, Thomson 81

Sent off: Pressley 88

Referee: C Murray

Attendance: 16,575

Taken from timesonline.co.uk