Jankauskas at the double to help settled Hearts beat as one again

AFTER the upheavals of their season so far it would be foolish to make too strong a prediction of stability for Hearts, but, in what was a solid victory over spirited opponents, the signs were that some semblance of normality has returned.

For a start, the team line-up had a familiar look to it. Whereas recent matches have seen the debut or first start of a number of new signings, this selection was close to what had been the Tynecastle club's settled preference when they swept all before them back in August. Only the suspended Paul Hartley was missing from what was then regarded as the real first-team squad, while the return from injury of Edgaras Jankauskas and, as a substitute, Roman Bednar, evoked memories of that purple patch under George Burley.

The remarkable thing back then about Hearts was how quickly all the new recruits blended into a proper team. It should perhaps have been unremarkable that the same thing did not happen when the club introduced some new faces during the transfer window, but the recent difficulties were caused not so much by those signings themselves as by the difference of opinion over them. Vladimir Romanov, the owner, wanted them integrated as quickly as possible, which could only be done with a policy of squad rotation: Graham Rix and Jim Duffy, the head coach and new director of football, knew that if that happened performances would suffer.

To give Romanov his due, he appears to have learned from the row over team selection which arose before the draw at Tannadice 12 days ago and from the home defeat by Aberdeen the following weekend. The promotion of Duffy was one consequence of those results; the agreement to put many of the new boys on an intensive training programme before thrusting them into first-team action again was another; and, as a consequence of both those factors, Rix now appears more at ease with himself, his job and his surroundings than he has done since arriving at the club in November.

There were still similarities in this game with the 2-1 loss to Jimmy Calderwood's side a week earlier, for in both cases Hearts began very well then fell away for a while. The difference on Saturday was that the lull did not last, and perhaps also that Motherwell failed to exert the same sort of pressure on the home side. The collective self-doubt which had grown more and more evident against Aberdeen was not there even during a sticky spell in the second half when Stephen Craigan hit the bar with a header which had it been inches lower, would have reduced Hearts' lead to 2-1. Having survived that scare, the home side responded quickly, and within minutes Calum Elliot had killed off the contest with a third goal, a delicate touch past Colin Meldrum as the goalkeeper came out to try to cut off a flick on by Rudi Skacel.

The match might just have unfolded a lot differently, however, had Motherwell, not Hearts, taken an early lead. On another day, Scott McDonald would have ensured they did so when he found himself unmarked at the back post, but on this occasion his header came back off that post and then hit Craig Gordon before the goalkeeper was first to react and collected the loose ball.

That chance, in the second minute, went against the grain of Tynecastle matches this season, as it is invariably the home side who come out of the traps quickly. A minute later, however, customary service was resumed. Skacel broke down the left, and when he shot Meldrum could only parry into the path of Jankauskas, who steered the ball home from five yards out.

A dozen minutes later, the Lithuanian both initiated and ended the move which put his side two up. Collecting the ball on halfway, he fed Deividas Cesnauskis down the right. The winger's cross was meant for Skacel by the far post, but it was cut out by David Corrigan - straight into the path of Jankauskas, whose blistering drive from just inside the penalty area was as exemplary a finish as you are likely to see.

Having started so brightly, the half degenerated thereafter. There were more bookings than attempts on goal between then and the interval, with the one noteworthy effort being a shot from Jim Hamilton which Gordon tipped over the crossbar.

Elliot's goal apart, the second half was similarly stodgy fare. Patience was frayed, niggling little nudges abounded, and referee Charlie Richmond struggled to keep a lid on some simmering tempers.

One of his more puzzling actions was to book Elliot, presumably for timewasting, when the teenager intercepted what he thought had been a goalkick from Meldrum. Apparently the goalkeeper had been passing the ball out to where one of his defenders was waiting to take a free-kick, but few spectators seemed aware of the referee's intentions, and the teenage striker was as baffled as the crowd when he was shown the yellow card. With the game all but over, a quiet word would have sufficed.

Terry Butcher, the Motherwell manager, was as upbeat as ever afterwards, but, with Inverness Caley Thistle, Kilmarnock and Aberdeen all winning, a top-six place looks beyond his team now. Hearts, meanwhile, maintain their fight on two fronts: the hunt for a Champions League place is still very much on, but first, in what will be their fifth consecutive Saturday at home, they face Partick Thistle in the quarter-finals of the Scottish Cup. The so-called boot-camp brigade should have ended their ten-day stint of intensive training by then. After this convincing performance, however, it is difficult to see too many of them making it into the team for the cup tie.

Taken from the Scotsman