Hearts 2 Osasuna 0

Hearts will head into next week's Champions League clash with Bosnian outfit Siroki Brijeg full of confidence after a deserved victory over Spanish outfit Osasuna at Murrayfield.

Lithuanian trialist Andrius Velicka opened the scoring after 74 minutes, showing great skill to lob goalkeeper Ricardo from an angle inside in the box and Ibrahim Tall added a second with the last kick of the game.

With Osasuna making their first pre-season appearance, it was no surprise that Hearts enjoyed the majority of possession during the first half and created the better chances.

It took just two minutes for the hosts, who decided to play this clash at the home of Scottish rugby in preparation for their Champions League qualifier with Tynecastle deemed unfit for the competition, to carve open their guests.

Deividas Cesnauskis' pass found its way through to Edgar Jankauskas - but his tame effort was well blocked by the feet of Ricardo.

Roman Bednar then had former Manchester United goalkeeper Ricardo sweating as his vicious free-kick from 25 yards sailed just over the bar.

It was virtually one-way traffic as the Spaniards failed to mount any attack that troubled Craig Gordon in the Hearts goal.

Youngster Andy Driver then found a gap at the back post but his outstretched left-footed shot barely troubled Ricardo.

The half time interval brought with it five changes by the visitors and Hearts also made wholesale alterations during the last 45 minutes as the game lost its edge.

The biggest cheer of the night was reserved for Neil McCann, who made an appearance on the hour - six months after suffering a knee cruciate injury on his return to the club where he won the Scottish Cup in 1998.

Just as the game looked as if it was heading towards a no-score draw, second half substitute Velicka found the net with a great finish inside the box.

Tall completed the scoring in injury-time, slamming Lee Johnson's free-kick beyond Ricardo from close range.

Taken from sportinglife.com