Hearts 4 - 1 Inverness CT

The overseas influence at Hearts at all levels from the boardroom down to the pitch is there for all to see. What has been forgotten in all of the talk of the foreign feel at Tynecastle is the importance of the club's youth system for Scottish players.
Vital to its success is their training academy at Heriot-Watt University.
The quality of the facility has led to many talented youngsters plumping to train with the Edinburgh club, as they know they will be well looked-after.

The latest pair to come off the youth conveyor belt are the talented teenagers Jamie Mole and Andrew Driver, both of whom were given their first-team league debuts against Inverness Caledonian Thistle. The fact that both of them scored made it even more of a special day for both. Also in the ranks was Lee Wallace, another former youth academy player with great potential.

While bigger and better-paid names like Julien Brellier, Takis Fyssas, Edgaras Jankauskas were either rested or injured the young Scots took advantage of their opportunities.
Mole put in a great shift alongside recent Chilean signing Mauricio Pinilla, who scored the game's opening goal on his debut. Mole and Driver were next on the scoresheet before Bruno Aguiar got the fourth in what was an impressive Hearts performance.

Six of the starting XI for Hearts came from Scotland and while Lithuanians and Czechs flit in and out of the team it is the homegrown players who provide the solid base.
Craig Gordon, another who joined Hearts straight from school, Steven Pressley, Paul Hartley and Neil McCann all put in decent shifts which was important as this was a makeshift home side without many big names.

McCann, for some inexplicable reason, is struggling to win over the Tynecastle faithful and they seem very quick to jump down his throat when he makes a mistake.
He nearly scored with a shot, which came back off the bar, and it looks like it will take a goal to silence his critics.

It was vital that Hearts came back after their Champions League qualifying match defeat against AEK Athens with all guns blazing. They outplayed the Highland outfit and were well worth their emphatic victory. Mole was the pick of their players and for such a young man to lead the line with such aplomb was a magnificent achievement.

Other new names in the Hearts line-up included Marius Zaliukas, on-loan from FBK Kaunas, who settled in well and Tiago Costa, who replaced the suspended Robbie Neilson. Costa is a stocky little player and looks perfectly suited for the Scottish game.

However, he was at fault for the Inverness goal as he lost Graham Bayne at the back post allowing him to head home from a cross from Barry Wilson.
His moment of indecision marred a decent performance but it is odds-on Neilson will be back for the next match against St Mirren.

With nine Hearts players away on international duty this week the training academy will be rather empty. However, with so many young Scottish players around the club it will give Ivanauskas time to look at those other players attempting to break into the first-team squad.
One of the main reasons for the ease of the Hearts win was the return to form of Paul Hartley.

The midfielder has struggled with injury this season and against Inverness he played his best game of the season so far.
He still appears a bit lacking in match fitness but he gives the Hearts midfield a more attacking feel. Without him they struggle to make chances and he remains their most influential player.

Taken from the Herald