Winning ugly may be Par for course

Dunfermline 1
Hearts 2

MATCHES immediately subsequent to European ties are often hazardous, most requiring a grinding performance to satisfy managers' aspirations for three domestic points.

So Hearts fans may have to adjust to their side winning with a hint of ugliness when necessary this season, rather than the finesse which characterised many dominant displays last year when the club's schedule was free of European fixtures.

Were that to transpire, the Tynecastle support would be unlikely to complain. It would, after all, likely mean their club was basking in an extended European run in either the Champions League or UEFA Cup. The manner of Hearts' victory over Dunfermline on the opening day of the season may have provided a portent of things to come.

The exertions involved in breaking down Siroki Brijeg's defence at Murrayfield last Wednesday should not be underestimated and therefore would explain why there were only fleeting glimpses against Dunfermline of the flowing football Hearts normally like to practise. Paul Hartley's continued absence from the side is also a contributory factor in that respect, the Scotland midfielder's groin injury rendering him unavailable for the trip to Fife along with the suspended Edgaras Jankauskas. The Lithuanian's replacement, Michal Pospisil, was to have a major bearing on the afternoon's events.

After summer talks with Norwegian club Stabaek as he pondered his Tynecastle future, Pospisil has returned to Edinburgh in peak condition and notable form to boot. By creating the opener and scoring the winner, he presented head coach Valdas Ivanauskas with a minor selection headache for Wednesday night's European return leg in Bosnia.

Roman Bednar again ran his distinctive red boots off at the weekend and netted Hearts' first goal as a reward, stretching out the toes on his left foot to touch the ball past the poorly-positioned Roddy McKenzie from Pospisil's left-sided cross.

Now it has long been assumed that the attacking pairing favoured by Ivanauskas is Bednar and Jankauskas but, after Pospisil continued to exercise and perplex the Dunfermline defence before forcing home the critical winning goal ten minutes from time, it has become a case of three into two won't go up front.

Leaving Jankauskas, a Champions League winner and national figurehead of Lithuanian football, on the bench in the Pacara Stadium on Wednesday wouldn't go down too well with majority shareholder Vladimir Romanov, but the combination of Bednar and Pospisil provides a fine blend of hustling imposition and natural goalscoring instinct.

Ivanauskas' decision in Bosnia promises to be intriguing, and the Lithuanian must be credited with getting it right at Dunfermline to ignite what his paymaster fully expects to be a title challenge from Edinburgh. The 3,700 travelling fans wouldn't have been thrilled to pay the ridiculously exorbitant sum of £23 for the right to visit East End Park, and a bullish start by the hosts could only compound their dissatisfaction. But Hearts didn't labour in signalling their intent in amongst some over-zealous challenges from both sides.

Just as Dunfermline looked like they may capitalise on the early confusion in the Hearts defence caused principally by the pace of Freddie Daquin, Neil McCann fed Pospisil down the left and the Czech's cross was converted by his lunging compatriot, Bednar.

From that moment Hearts never looked in genuine danger of losing the match, although their passing movements were often interrupted by some brutal tackling from a fired-up home side. Senegalese defender Sol Bamba, signed last week by Jim Leishman from the French club Paris St Germain, could easily have been dismissed long before the end.

Bamba's partner, Scott Wilson, was toiling to cope with the presence and movement of Bednar, and on 22 minutes there was almost a carbon copy of the opening goal when Pospisil's left foot again aimed the ball for his striking partner in the penalty area, who missed out on a connection by inches.

Bruno Aguiar tested McKenzie with a swirling right-footer from outside the penalty area and Hearts ended the half looking content with their lead having countered the early Pars threat. By this time the skies overhead were darkening with clouds and those inside the stadium encountered the unprecedented sight of floodlights being switched on in July.

After the in-rushing McCann had thundered Robbie Neilson's outswinging cross off the bar with McKenzie beaten, Dunfermline equalised against the run of play. In the true irony of football, it was a former Tynecastle employee who scored the goal that for a while threatened to damage his former club's championship assault before it had even got underway.

Craig Gordon awkwardly palmed Stephen Simmons' clipped shot over the bar at the near post and Scott Muirhead's subsequent right-sided corner dropped at the back post. Simmons levered himself above the outstanding Julien Brellier to power a header downwards and back up over Bruno Aguiar, the ball skimming the Portuguese's hair as it flew in at the post.

The strike increased the decibel level somewhat and on 69 minutes referee Brian Winter ensured it almost lifted the roof off. As Saulius Mikoliunas made off down the right he had his shirt tugged and then his heels clipped by Muirhead. The Lithuanian went down approaching the penalty area and Winter initially shook his head to indicate no foul. But the stand-side assistant, Brian McGarry, was waving his flag to denote an infringement and before long Winter had not only acquiesced but proceeded to book Muirhead for his crime. Hearts looked a little unsteady as the game entered its final stages with Dunfermline pressing, but when they needed to produce something out of nothing they did.

Bamba, whose every tackle seemed to lead to a foul, violently took down substitute Deividas Censauskis on the edge of his own penalty area after the Lithuanian had meandered past Scott Wilson and Calum Woods. The Senegalese ultimately paid the price for his recklessness. The resultant free-kick was clipped over the wall and off the stanchion of post and bar by Aguiar. It was a kick identical to the one he took against Siroki Brijeg at Murrayfield, except this time the predatory Pospisil was there to knock the ball into the net when it came back to ground. The celebrations amongst the travelling support and players indicated to everyone just how vital three points each week will be in Gorgie this season.

There was still time for home substitute Andy Tod to see red, though. He had been cautioned on 33 minutes for a barge on Gordon, and two brutal fouls on Brellier only seconds apart sealed his fate. Gary Mason had an unpleasant word in the ear of Hearts' Frenchman, who, to his credit, made little of the assault. Minutes later Bamba should have joined Tod in his early bath for a disgraceful elbow to the throat of Aguiar, but Winter again chose to ignore the faux pas. At full-time, Leishman's cautionary finger was waved at defender Phil McGuire for berating assistant referee McGarry over a contested decision. But Hearts departed satisfied with victory.

In no way could it be described as pretty, but if dogged displays and opportunist striking continue to bring three points to Tynecastle following many midweek European encounters, will anyone connected with the club complain?

Taken from the Scotsman