Hearts keep Europe hopes alive
By Kenny MacDonald
(Filed: 06/03/2006)

Match details

Livingston (1) 2 Hearts (0) 3

Hearts snatched a late 3-2 win over basement club Livingston in the Scottish Premier League on Sunday to close the gap on leaders Celtic to 13 points.

With three minutes remaining substitute Roman Bednar blasted the winner for second-placed Hearts to boost their Champions League hopes.

They scored against the run of play in the 17th minute when Portuguese midfielder Bruno Aguiar blasted a shot from the edge of the box just as Livingston's Richard Brittain slid in. The ball spun up and looped over keeper Rod McKenzie.

But Livingston, in John Robertson's first home game in charge, equalised just before the hour mark when a free kick from Brittain swept in high at the right post.

Deividas Cesnauskis set up fellow Lithuanian Edgaras Jankauskas to put Hearts 2-1 up with a header. But again Livingston equalised, with a strike from 18 yards by Dave Mackay in the 77th minute.

Hearts now have 57 points from 28 games while Celtic, who beat Aberdeen 3-0 on Saturday, have 70. Champions Rangers trail in third with 49 points after their 2-1 win at Falkirk. "I think it was a very competitive game, but that's what you expect coming to play a team fighting for their lives," Hearts director of football Jim Duffy said.

"It is an important victory for us because they are going to be fighting for everything until the end of the season."

Robertson, a former Hearts coach, said: "We played well against a team heading for the Champions League. But football can be cruel because there is no way Livingston deserved to lose. We have been seen as a soft touch, but I don't think anyone can say that today."

Match details

Livingston: McKenzie, McNamee (Snodgrass 78), Strong, Dorado, Mackay, Brittain, Adams, Walker, Dair, Morrow, Dorrans (Hoolahan 70). Subs: Roy, Miller, Geggan, Weir. Booked: Morrow, Adams, Dair. Goals: Brittain 59, Mackay 77.
Hearts: Gordon, Neilson, Berra, Webster, Fyssas, Cesnauskis (Beslija 86), Petras, Aguiar, Skacel (Hackett 82), Jankauskas (Bednar 75), Elliot. Subs: Banks, McAllister, Johnson, Goncalves. Goals: Aguiar 17, Jankauskas 72, Bednar 87.
Att: 5,058

Taken from telegraph.co.uk