Hearts 1 Aberdeen 2

By Ronnie Esplin, PA Sport

Hearts' Bank of Scotland Premier League title hopes were left hanging by a thread as Aberdeen claimed their first win at Tynecastle since 1999.

Striker Calum Elliot had shot the home side into a ninth-minute lead but only a sterling display by Jambos keeper Craig Gordon kept the visitors at bay.

But, in the 68th minute, Hearts skipper Steven Pressley put through his own goal trying to block a Scott Severin cross.

The Pittodrie side were not for settling for the draw and, with three minutes left, Chris Clark drove a shot from the edge of the box, which deflected off Paul Hartley to leave Gordon with no chance.

It was the visitors' first win at Tynecastle in seven years and left the Edinburgh men still 10 points behind leaders Celtic who have a game in hand against rivals Rangers at Ibrox.

The Pittodrie men were looking for revenge for their 3-0 Tennent's Scottish Cup defeat at the same venue a week ago.

However, having not scored in Gorgie in over 11 hours of football, the omens were not on the visitors' side.

The home side should have taken the lead in the fifth minute when defender Takis Fyssas surged forward and set Rudi Skacel up with a clever pass inside the area.

But the Jambos midfielder drove his angled shot from 14 yards past the far post.

However, the opener was only delayed by four minutes.

Robbie Neilson swung a corner over to the back post where the unmarked Skacel initially mis-controlled the ball before slamming a cross into the six-yard box for Elliot to neatly side-foot home.

The Edinburgh side had firm control of the game with Skacel the source of most of Aberdeen's problems with his probing runs down the left.

But, in the 27th minute, Gordon was almost caught out with a Clark cross from wide on the right which flashed across, touching the bar before skipping away.

Dons' defender Kevin McNaughton had a speculative shot from distance which had Gordon moving smartly to his right to shepherd past the post.

Hearts' early dominance diminished as the visitors at last got to grips with their game plan.

In the 34th minute, Gordon threw himself to his left to parry a Barry Nicholson free-kick from around 25 yards and the home side looked vulnerable.

Four minutes later, as the visitors began pushing forward with confidence, the Hearts keeper pulled off an even better save from Jamie Smith's curling shot from distance, rising to tip the ball over the bar.

It was a scrappy start to the second period as both sides battled to obtain dominance but it was the Pittodrie men who had the edge.

Diamond had a half-hearted shot from 18 yards which Gordon gathered comfortably.

As the driving rain added to the uncomfortable conditions, the home crowd were becoming increasingly agitated at their side's failure to shrug off their inertia.

In the 65th minute, the anonymous Steve Lovell was replaced by Darren Mackie as the visitors tried to improve their chances of scoring.

And three minutes later the Dons were level, albeit under fortuitous circumstances.

Gordon made another good save, this time from a Ferne Snoyl shot.

But, when former Jambo Severin cut the ball back, Hearts skipper Pressley could only watch as the ball came off him at the near post and into the roof of the net.

Then, in the 87th minute, the relentless visitors grabbed the deserved winner, again with a bit of luck attached.

Clark's shot from the edge of the penalty deflected off Hartley and left Gordon wrong-footed to the anguish of the home players who saw their title aspirations disappear almost instantly.

Teams

Hearts Gordon, Neilson, Pressley, Webster, Fyssas,Petras (Wallace 45), Hartley, Beslija, Skacel, Elliot,Aguiar (Straceny 45), Straceny (Pospisil 82).

Subs Not Used: Banks, Cesnauskis, Berra, Johnson.

Booked: Fyssas, Straceny.

Goals: Elliot 9.

Aberdeen Langfield, Griffin, Anderson, Diamond, McNaughton,Smith (MacFarlane 89), Severin, Nicholson, Clark,Lovell (Mackie 65), Macauley (Snoyl 45).

Subs Not Used: Esson, Dempsey, Stewart, Foster.

Booked: Smith, Anderson, Snoyl.

Goals: Pressley 68 og, Clark 87.

Att: 16,895

Ref: I Fyfe (Scotland).

Taken from sportinglife.com