Hearts flutter as Killie recover

TYNECASTLE, as sedate as we've seen it for quite some time, erupted into the kind of fury we expect from this place from the 85th minute. The joint began to rock when Killie pulled a goal back through Colin Nish, a scrambled effort that sparked a ruck in Craig Gordon's goal as the visitors' tried to retrieve the ball for a quick restart. Bodies piled in. Alan Freeland, the referee, checked his run to the halfway line and double-backed frantically to observe the madness in the net. All the while the Hearts and Killie supporters were going mental. Ah, Cup football at last.

And there was more. With a minute of normal time remaining Killie launched everybody forward for a corner, their goalkeeper Alan Combe included. When things broke down Hearts came screeching downfield. Skacel took it on at a fair old lick, the panicked Combe retreating in his wake. As he bore down on goal, ignoring good options around him, Skacel was brought down by Garry Hay. The home fans cursed the ground the referee walked on when Freeland issued a yellow card instead of a red.

The colour didn't matter for it ended soon after, with Hearts blowing hard and Killie left frustrated at what might have been. "On the balance of play we competed well and we had the best chances," said Jim Jefferies later. "Nobody could have begrudged us a draw."

It was a fair assessment, one that Graham Rix may have agreed with. Hearts were never comfortable, not at 2-0 and certainly not before. It's true they could have been ahead after four minutes when Edgaras Jankauskas smashed a terrific long-range shot off Combe's right-hand post but they spent large chunks of that first half on the back foot. More than anybody, the man who put them there was Steven Naismith.

His runs from midfield were a constant source of worry for Hearts, two bursts in particular spreading panic and recrimination throughout Steven Pressley's defence. The first came off a Combe throw-out in the 14th minute, the midfielder's penetrating run taking him past Paul Hartley and into the Hearts' penalty area whereupon Alan Johnston managed to make a mess of what was a very decent opportunity.

Incredibly, Naismith did something very similar a minute later, this time riding two weak challenges before presenting Gordon Greer with an opportunity which he failed to take. Not long after that, Johnston had another chance when coming in from the left and burying the ball in the Hearts' side-netting.

Killie were clearly on top in the first 20 minutes and they were, in truth, helped on their way by Hearts' inability to keep hold of possession. "We weren't very good with the ball today," said Rix and he wasn't lying. The chief culprit here was Saulius Mikoliunas, who was starting his first game in a month in place of Davidas Cesnauskis. Mikoliunas's end product is bad enough but his game awareness is lamentable. He was a passenger for much of this Cup tie.

The visitors deserved to be ahead so you can only imagine Jefferies' reaction when they fell behind. His mood would have darkened at the loss of a goal but the nature of it left him utterly apoplectic on the touchline. No wonder. Hearts scored courtesy of a Robbie Neilson throw that was headed directly home by an unmarked Pressley. "We switched off," said the Killie manager. "It was very congested in there. The ball was in the air a long time. We had plenty of time to size it up, to go and attack it but they got the touch."

The cruel blow of giving away such a simple goal was added to before the end of the half when the lively Gary Wales left the field with blood pouring from his broken nose. Jankauskas followed him soon after, the big striker hobbling off a minute before the break with a hamstring injury. Rix said the Lithuanian could be out for quite a while.

It was Kilmarnock came back out for the second half with more purpose and, initially at any rate, a weight of chances. Paul Di Giacomo had replaced the stricken Wales, and he went close to levelling it early in the new half. As good as that opportunity was, the one that fell to Naismith a few minutes later was even better. "The best chance of the game," was how his manager described Naismith's hurried blast over Gordon's crossbar. The man himself had a certain amount of regret. "I should have finished it," said Naismith. "I turned and hit it but the boys have been saying I had more time than I thought I had."

Skacel and Elliot then forced saves out of Combe but Hearts' second goal was not long in coming. The substitute Jamie McAllister claimed it with a fine finish but it was really all about Elliot taking advantage of sloppy Killie defending. The teenager chased down a ball on the right that Killie thought was going dead, before cutting back an inviting cross to McAllister, who thumped it high into the roof of Combe's net. "We switched off," said Jefferies, who felt Hay should have covered Elliot's run. "We're kicking ourselves a wee bit."

Naismith echoed the sentiment of his manager - and then went slightly further. "We showed a lot of belief. We showed that we can challenge any team. But we've given away two sloppy goals. If you look at it, Hearts haven't beaten us today, we've beaten ourselves."

Rix didn't concern himself with the ins and outs of the tie. He was just happy to deal with the bottom line. "We're through," he said. "We weren't great but we showed good determination and a will to win and we're in the hat. In Andy Webster and Julien Brellier we had two players who are just out of their sick beds having struggled with flu, so we knew it was going to be tough. Killie are a good side so I'm chuffed to bits."

Taken from the Scotsman