Hearts happy to shrug of Killie

THERE was something comforting about a return to watching the fundamentals of kicking a ball around a patch of grass on Saturday.

After the frivolity of a week of incessant transfer speculation surrounding Hearts, getting back to what is the club's primary function was most welcome.

With no new faces to report, a fact bemoaned just a touch by head coach Graham Rix after the match, it was the more recognisable who were entrusted with the task of dispensing with Kilmarnock from the Scottish Cup.

They did so by virtue of a performance which hinted at their capabilities but never truly bared them as Jim Jefferies' side departed Edinburgh feeling more than a smattering of dejection. In short, Kilmarnock made a sufficient number of chances to kill two games on Saturday.

Since Kris Boyd's defection to Ibrox, Colin Nish has assumed the role of towering target man at Rugby Park with Gary Wales as his foil. Nish is very much a poor man's version of his predecessor, however, and offered little threat to Hearts. The main concern to Rix was the attacking incisions from midfield by young Steven Naismith, who appeared as cultured as anyone could be in performing a role for Kilmarnock similar to that of Paul Hartley for Hearts.

It was largely due to Naismith's scurrying beyond Hartley and Julien Brellier to loom large in front of the Hearts defence that the first half was shaded by the visitors. Steven Pressley had headed Hearts a goal to the good from a straightforward long throw by Robbie Neilson on the right, but Naismith and the former Hearts winger Allan Johnston were a constant problem.

After Edgaras Jankauskas' speculative drive in the fourth minute which crashed off the post and the back of goalkeeper Alan Combe to fall at the feet of the offside Rudi Skacel, Hearts were pinned back for notable spells by a Kilmarnock side intent on a policy of controlled attack.

Naismith jinked into the box to set up Johnston to drag a right-footed shot wide under pressure before the former Scotland internationalist took a throw from Garry Hay and cut inside for another right footer which skimmed somewhat nearer Craig Gordon's goal.

Then Pressley struck having been afforded a dreadfully simple header in off Combe's right-hand post virtually without a challenge, but Kilmarnock remained undeterred as Wales was forced off with a broken nose after a clash with Robbie Neilson, the crack having been heard in the stand. Hearts also lost Jankauskas before half-time with a hamstring injury, but the ineffectual performance of the Lithuanian up to that point had been more than compensated by Calum Elliot, who perhaps surprisingly was proving himself more productive in the air than his more imposing striking partner.

Kilmarnock lost little impetus during the interval, but would be left to rue a glaring miss by Naismith on 52 minutes. Scintillating build-up play saw Johnston's cross cushioned by Nish into the path of the 19-year-old just ten yards out and one-on-one with Gordon, but his right-footed finish sailed into the Kilmarnock- dominated Roseburn Stand.

With Nish almost obsolete until that point and Wales off injured, the one man those visiting supporters would have wished such a blatant opportunity to fall to would have been Naismith. The let down was a critical point in a feverish cup tie.

Hearts responded by taking a little more control for a 15-minute spell during which they forced a second goal, created by Elliot's persistence in taking the ball to the byline to cut it back for substitute Jamie McAllister's lunge which poked it high into the corner of the net.

Still Kilmarnock manufactured opportunities and eventually Nish took one at the back post from a Stevie Murray free-kick on 86 minutes, prompting Hearts followers to shift around in their seats uncomfortably during the frantic closing stages.

After two blatant fouls by Hay and Frazer Wright on Skacel and Michal Pospisil respectively, the latter bringing no action from referee Alan Freeland, there was still time for a derogatory and suggestive chant about the SFA after their stance on the fallout from the defeat by Celtic on New Year's Day. In the case of Wright, there certainly seemed a case for the argument of Pospisil having been denied a goalscoring opportunity. Perhaps fate was effecting some leniency on Kilmarnock, conscious that their profligacy in front of goal had cost them enough during the course of the day.

"We missed too many chances and that is unlike us," said Jefferies afterwards. "We were always in it at 1-0 but young Steven Naismith has had the best chance of the game, and I thought we controlled the midfield for long spells with outstanding performances from Naismith and Allan Johnston.

"We seemed to switch off for the second goal but I have no complaints about our performance, which was as good as it's been anywhere and every bit as good as Hearts' I felt. We deserved to take them back to Rugby Park."

In blatant honesty, he wasn't wrong, but nevertheless it is Hearts who move into the fourth round of the Scottish Cup in a year ending in the number six, which could be pertinent for those keen on superstitions and omens. The Tynecastle club have won the trophy on six previous occasions, three of them coming in years ending in six - 1896, 1906 and 1956. The importance of the Scottish Cup has certainly not been lost on Pospisil. "We can qualify for the UEFA Cup so there is good motivation for us to continue.

"In the Czech Republic, where I come from, people prefer to concentrate on the league, but in Scotland both the cup and the league are important. I won the Czech Cup with Viktoria Zizkov so I know what it is like to win cup competitions. I hope I can do this with Hearts, too."

Jankauksas' injury may indeed provide an unlikely comeback for Pospisil at Tynecastle after seemingly falling out of favour with Rix at the end of last year. Like the club's return to football as opposed to the silly season of transfer windows, that would also be extremely well received.

Taken from the Scotsman