Hearts on cue in dress rehearsal

Hearts 2
Osasuna 0

THIS match may go down in the record books simply as a warm-up before the serious action gets underway next week but, friendly or not, Hearts can surely take much confidence from this victory and performance over a side who finished fourth in La Liga last season.
Click to learn more...

Goals from Lithuanian trialist Andrius Velicka and defender Ibrahim Tall ensured a happy return to Murrayfield for Hearts for the first time since playing there in the group stages of the UEFA Cup two seasons ago and they will be hoping to enjoy the same outcome against Siroki Brijeg at Scotland's national rugby stadium next week.

Certainly, Hearts head coach Valdas Ivanauskas was delighted to end the first-team's pre-season campaign with a victory and believes it was vital for his players ahead of next Wednesday's match against the Bosnian side who last night beat Belarussians Shaktyor Soligorsk 2-0 on aggregate to progress.

He said: "Getting the win was very important before our Champions League game next week and probably more important was the performance. I thought that it was good.

"We expected them to be tough, every team in the Spanish league is good. If you finish fourth in the table then you are obviously a good team and I think that this was our strongest test.

"Winning was good for us and now we have not lost any of the pre-season games and that is good for the players mentally."

Hearts, no doubt with that Champions League qualifier in mind, dominated proceedings and took just three minutes to carve out their first chance of the match, a neat dummy from Roman Bednar enough to leave Edgaras Jankauskas in space but Osasuna keeper Ricardo Felipe spread himself well to block with his left foot.

The Spanish outfit's goalkeeper was to impress further in the 90 minutes and had it not been for his efforts between the sticks Hearts' victory could have been more convincing.

The Jambos continued to press forward and proceeded to win a free kick 20 yards from goal when the lively Bednar was cut down by Carlos Jimenez. The Czech striker was so keen to be involved in every area of the pitch that he stepped up to take the kick himself, curling the ball just high and wide of Felipe's postage stamp corner.

Much had been expected of Osasuna yet they struggled to create an opening in the first half but the Tynecastle side came close again just minutes later when Bruno Aguiar's corner was floated high into the box and Steven Pressley rose well to meet it but the captain's header soared high above the bar.

They had threatened Felipe's goal all night and should have gained the advantage when the ball fell to Deividas Cesnauskis with 20 minutes gone, the Lithuanian unleashing a rocket of a shot but the keeper was again alert and pulled off a stunning block.

Bednar is hoping to surpass his goals tally of seven league goals for last season and looked up for this test from the start and when he cut the ball back to Aguiar out on the right flank it gave the Portuguese midfielder the chance to pull it across the face of goal. He sent it into the area just a couple of yards shy of the by-line but there was still no beating Felipe as he lurched out of his goal to pluck the ball out of the air and away from Jankauskas who was hovering at the back post.

Hearts' positive start would no doubt have given new Rangers boss Paul le Guen, who watched 80 minutes of this match from his vantage point in the Murrayfield stand, much food for thought, however Hearts could still not break the deadlock, Cesnauskis firing in an effort that would have been more at home in a rugby match and sending the ball high into the air above Felipe's net.

The only time Osasuna threatened to puncture the Hearts defence in that opening 45 minutes was when Bernardo Romero found himself in space but the Spaniard's effort was never going to trouble Scotland keeper Craig Gordon, his tame shot straight into his arms.

The second half was only a couple of minutes old when Osasuna carved out their best chance of the match, half-time substitute Raul Escudero's diagonal ball into the box finding Moreno but his powerful effort was blocked by Gordon.

Ivanauskas said after the match that he has 80 per cent of his team for next week's clash with Siroki pictured in his mind and he gave almost every one of his substitutes the chance to play their way into the remaining 20 per cent, bringing on eight second-half replacements to join Marius Zaliukas, who had come on to replace the injured Julien Brellier after half and hour.

However, the biggest cheer of the night was reserved for Neil McCann who was brought on to replace young Andrew Driver with just over an hour gone to make his first appearance since suffering a knee injury against Kilmarnock in January - his first match since re-signing for the club from Southampton.

Not surprisingly, it was the substitutes who had the biggest say in the outcome of this match - only Gordon and the outstanding Christophe Berra with the honour of playing the entire 90 minutes.

Gordon, who missed Saturday's win over Preston in Lancashire because of a groin strain proved he was fighting fit when he was called upon again to block a snapshot from Francisco Martinez, diving down to his left like lightning to palm it away from danger. The goal, when it came, caught Gordon's opposite number Felipe off guard for the first time in the match, a ball from Zaliukas bouncing to sub Andrius Velicka and, after a poor touch with his left foot, he switched to his right and looped it high over the keeper's head and in at the far post.

It was Velicka's second goal in a week, the trialist scoring for Vladimir Romnaov's other club Kaunas in last week's UEFA Cup win over Portadown and it will have done him no harm in his quest to earn a move to Tynecastle.

Hearts then won a free-kick when Michal Pospisil was almost caught by a high boot, Lee Johnson swinging it high into the area only for Raul Escudero to get a head to it before Pospisil to send it back to his keeper.

However Ivanauskas' side were not to be denied a second, Tall rounding off the scoring in stoppage time after getting on the end of Johnson's free-kick and drilling home from eight yards.

McCann's return from injury was a source of much pleasure for Ivanauskas, who is hoping even more supporters will turn out next week and he added: "It was great to see Neil come back into the side, great for everyone but especially for him. He needs to continue working towards full fitness and I thought that he did well. I was very happy with Neil.

"It was also a good atmosphere, a big crowd and a good pitch. We had almost 20,000 fans and hopefully even more supporters will come out for the game next week because we need them to help us through to the next round."

Taken from the Scotsman