Skacel fixes it for Rix

HEARTS 2 Skacel 8, 15
LIVINGSTON 1 Walker 63

WE HAVE had Vladimir Romanov rattling his sabre from the front line on television but the bottom line yesterday for Graham Rix was a victory in his first home game as head coach of Hearts. His men responded accordingly, preserving their unblemished home record and atoning for two previous on-the-road stalemates under the new man who has now led Hearts back to the pinnacle.

The restored league leaders were more like their old selves and, if they did not quite scale the heights performance-wise against a pugnacious Livingston, the hungry hosts raced out of the blocks in front of a raucous and expectant crowd. The dashing Rudi Skacel bagged a handsome brace with indecent haste but, with Hearts unable to keep the pace up, Livingston threatened to catch them up after combative teenager Allan Walker's sweet strike revived the visitors' hopes of an upset.

In the frantic denouement, Hearts held on but not without lingering controversy from Livingston's viewpoint. When Gabor Vincze's freak throw-in inexplicably bounced over Craig Gordon and into the net Livingston presumed they had equalised - only for referee Alan Freeland to rule there had been no additional touch between touchline and goal-line. An incredulous Livingston boss Paul Lambert begged to differ: "If someone can throw the ball 50 yards over a keeper like Craig Gordon who is 19ft 5 tall, well, I'd like to see it again. You'd have to have the eyesight of Clark Kent to say that there was no touch."

Hearts defender Andy Webster maintained no-one had made contact with the ball and his head coach wasn't prepared to enter any debate. Asked if he hoped Hearts would fend off any approaches for Skacel in January, a relieved Rix understandably asked if he could instead dwell on the here and now. "Let me savour the moment guys," he told reporters. "We're top of the league. We're really happy."

He did say that he felt Skacel could have done more in the past couple of games and that he'd had a chat with his Czech during the week. Webster praised Skacel's "phenomenal" strike rate and said: "If Henrik Larsson did that, everyone would be raving about his goal ratio."

Romanov has now surpassed 80% ownership of Hearts which permits the delisting from the stock exchange process to kick in. The Lithuanian recently made Campbell Ogilvie general-secretary/operations-director while a director of football is claimed to be working "incognito" and, presumably, independently of the head coach. All these titles, yet it is the Premierleague title which the aspiring Edinburgh club retain serious hope of claiming. Though Hearts deigned to drop two points at Fir Park last weekend, they had gained a point on Celtic after the Hoops' surprise Parkhead defeat to Dunfermline.

Hearts' first taste of defeat this season was at the hands of Livingston, who knocked George Burley's side out of the CIS Cup in September. The Livingston scorer in that 1-0 win was ex-Hearts player Ramon Pereira, but he wasn't there yesterday, having left Almondvale for a return to Spain earlier in the week. Livingston may be improving but the 3-0 home hammering from Kilmarnock last week had brought them back to earth with a resounding bump. They hogged bottom spot prior to this contest and there they remain but Lambert is sure it will change. "If we keep playing like this I've no doubt we will be fine," he said.

Rix had requested a "rip-roaring" atmosphere for his home debut and he certainly got that, with the Tynecastle crowd belting out the standard hits before screaming with delight as early as the eighth minute when the inimitable Skacel took a scalpel to the Livingston rearguard, riding one challenge before smashing an unstoppable effort into the top-hand left corner of Ludovic Roy's net. This after Paul Hartley had a drive saved following Roman Bednar's impudent back heel.

It took Skacel less time than it took him to notch his first to deliver the second and have the fans acclaiming his talent yet again. Calum Elliot crossed for Skacel to knock it down before lashing a superb low angled drive past the diving keeper. Hearts were ravenous and Richard Brittain almost headed the ball into his own net with a fairly unorthodox clearance.

Livingston's Paul Tierney was booked for hauling down Saulius Mikoliunas as the Hearts midfielder made for the penalty area, but the subsequent short free kick was botched, and minutes later Mikoliunas blasted a shot just over the crossbar. Julien Brellier was carded for a sliding challenge on Walker and Paul Dalglish might have been rewarded on another day for a spectacular long-ranger that dipped viciously but narrowly over Gordon's bar. The home fans showed their displeasure when Walker took his illegal revenge on Brellier, cutting him down in the centre circle and receiving his own caution.

It didn't end there: another flare-up on the half-time whistle saw Andy Webster felled by James McPake resulting in the latter and team-mate Dalglish receiving yellow cards after walking down the tunnel.

In the second-half, Bednar pulled a shot wide of the post and fell to his knees realising the chance that he had spurned. It was regrettable because when Walker pulled one unexpectedly from the fire, a super drive into the corner of the net from 20 yards, it was game on. From the restart the Hearts fans roared then groaned as Bednar reached Skacel's over-hit pass only to bash a post from an acute angle.

Bednar was replaced by Michal Pospisil, who also smacked the upright with Roy beaten. Vincze's curious throw-in incident furthered the drama and with the goal at his mercy at the other end, Hartley dragged wide when he might have put the game to bed. But the referee ended it and the Hearts fans would not be moved as their heroes returned to the top of the table.

Taken from the Scotsman