Hearts 2 Kilmarnock 1: McAllister’s winner brings relief for Rix

Graham Rix, looking weather-beaten and worn, summed it up himself afterwards. “I didn’t think we were good with the ball, but the most important thing is that we’re in the hat,” he sighed. “The result was the key thing, not the performance. I’m chuffed to bits that we came through it.”

Relief would have been the most pressing of his emotions. There were four minutes left when Kilmarnock substitute Stephen Murray’s free-kick spun through the air and landed at the feet of Colin Nish at the back post, and the tall, thin striker turned it into the net. The deficit was cut to one goal and Kilmarnock began to press with urgency. When they won a corner, Alan Combe, the goalkeeper, raced forward, only to see the ball cleared to Hearts midfielder Rudi Skacel, who ambled off towards the other end. The Czech delayed so long that Combe and his defenders funnelled back, before Garry Hay brought him down on the edge of the box. It was that kind of hesitant day for Hearts.

There was a disjointedness to the home side in the first half, a faltering that both infuriated and confused the players. Edgaras Jankauskas had swiped his leg lazily at a shot from 20 yards in the opening minutes, sending the ball in a carefree arc over Combe and off the face of the post, but that was a moment of coherence emphasised by its isolation. Although lining up in their usual 4-4-2 formation, the team seemed out of sorts, jumbled like a puzzle designed to confound its opponents, but only confusing itself. Rix, drinking from his plastic cup of coffee in the technical area, watched in dismay.

Kilmarnock, as has become characteristic, played with expansive optimism, an approach prompted and enabled by Allan Johnston’s clever movement and compact passing. Twice in quick succession Steven Naismith scampered dangerously down the right flank, first twisting and turning in the box before crossing for Johnston, who stabbed wide, and then laying the ball out to the overlapping right-back Gordon Greer, whose drilled cross was held at the near post by Craig Gordon.

It took a break in the play, when Kilmarnock striker Gary Wales was being treated for a broken nose after being caught by Hearts right-back Robbie Neilson’s arm, for the players to confer among themselves for an answer. Steven Pressley barked some instructions to Elliot, held a long and animated discussion with Skacel and then issued some more words of advice to the passing Julien Brellier. The game began to fall in Hearts’ favour, yet without ever being fully in their control.

Neilson hurled a long throw into the penalty area, although his right foot seemed clearly over the touchline when he released the ball. Amid the bustling in the box, only one shaggy-haired head met the throw, and Pressley glanced the ball into the far corner. “It was long enough in the air for the defenders to size it up and attack it,” complained Jim Jefferies, the Kilmarnock manager.

Jankauskas joined Wales off the field before the interval, having pulled his hamstring in an injury that “could keep him out for quite a while”, according to Rix. The game changed after the interval, becoming as open and ambitious as a salesman’s smile, and Naismith should have equalised when he took the ball from Nish’s lay-off, but lashed his shot high and wide. “He didn’t realise he had time to take a touch and slot it away,” said Jefferies afterwards. “But I’ve no complaints about the performance, that’s as good as it’s been up to now.”

Hearts then added a second, when Neilson’s throw reached Elliot and his cross was turned high into the net by the sliding Jamie McAllister. “It was difficult for us,” added Rix. “Andy Webster and Julien Brellier got out their sick beds to play.” It seemed, though, as if the whole team was under the weather.

STAR MAN: Steven Pressley (Hearts)

Player ratings. Hearts: Gordon 6, Neilson 5, Pressley 8, Webster 7, Fyssas 6, Mikoliunas 5 (McAllister 69min, 7), Hartley 7, Brellier 6, Skacel 5, Jankauskas 6 (Pospisil 44min, 6), Elliot 6 (Berra 90min, 6)

Kilmarnock: Combe 6, Greer 6 (Murray 73min), Lilley 6, Ford 5, Wright 7, Naismith 7, Fowler 7, Johnston 7, Hay 6, Nish 7, Wales 6 (Di Giacomo 37min 6)

Scorers: Hearts: Pressley 24, McAllister 75

Kilmarnock: Nish 86

Booked: Brellier 46, Fowler 78, Nish 84, Hay 88

Referee: A Freeland

Attendance: 12,831

Taken from timesonline.co.uk