Hearts seize the moment to take place in history

The Gorgie side secured second place in the Bank of Scotland Premierleague thanks to a Paul Hartley penalty after 53 minutes after Alexander Diamond had stopped a certain goal with his hand.

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It was a deserved win for the Edinburgh men who have never been out of the top two places all season.

Aberdeen started confidently enough but their challenge fizzled out and, with 11 minutes to go, Scott Severin was sent off for an overly-robust challenge on Bruno Aguiar, the Hearts midfield player.

Valdas Ivanauskas’s side were unchanged from the emphatic 3-0 win over the champions, Celtic, on Sunday, with Roman Bednar and Edgaras Jankauskas leading the line. It was the first time that Hearts had kept the same side for two games in a row since they played Falkirk and then Celtic over the new year period. For Aberdeen, Jimmy Calderwood drafted in Richie Byrne for Gary Dempsey from the team that beat Hibernian 4-0 at the weekend.

Deividas Cesnauskis set Hearts aflutter early on when he quickly turned a Bednar cut-back past Jamie Langfield’s left-hand post from 16 yards out. However, Richard Foster’s impressive run and cross from the left, which was gathered by Craig Gordon, in the Hearts goal, suggested Aberdeen were not going to play by the script.

The frustration of the home fans increased as the first half wore on with Ivanauskas, serving the first of a two-game ban sitting in the director’s box, seemingly unable to rally his troops.

In the 32nd minute, Steve Lovell, the Aberdeen striker, went off injured to be replaced by Darren Mackie but Hearts continued to dominate possession.

Four minutes later, they nearly grabbed the lead when a looping cross to the back post from the right by Bednar was met by Rudi Skace, but the Czech Republic midfield player could only stretch and guide his left-footed volley back across the goal and past the post.

Moments later, Skacel picked up a loose ball 30 yards from goal and fired a low left-footed drive past the same post.

Just before the interval, Bednar sent in a powerful shot from the edge of the box but Langfield dived to his right and gathered comfortably.

The Hearts fans did their best to inspire the team after the interval, but a similar pattern emerged, high balls being pumped into the Aberdeen penalty area.But on 53 minutes, a Jankauskas header from 12 yards caused mayhem in the Aberdeen box and although the ball was eventually cleared for a corner, the opening goal arrived immediately as a result of the set-piece.

Skacel’s corner from the right appeared to be flicked on past the flailing Langfield by Bednar leaving Alexander Diamond little option but to punch the ball clear. Curiously, the Aberdeen defender only received a yellow card from Stuart Dougal, the referee, but was punished more when Hartley stepped up to slot the spot-kick home.

The mood of the crowd and the game changed immediately, the tension replaced by celebrations and now Aberdeen looked less compact and confident as the home side went for the second goal.

In the 79th minute the visitors’ chance of a comeback diminished when Severin was shown a straight red card for a lunge at Bruno Aguiar on the touchline.

Taken from timesonline.co.uk