Precocious Mole digs Hearts out of their latest spot of bother

Jamie Mole and Craig Gordon may not have come through at the same time, but they produced glimpses of magic within 20 minutes to leave dejected Motherwell defeated. Mole, an 18-year-old striker of clear natural ability, scored the priceless solitary goal after 71 minutes when he accepted Neil McCann’s pass coolly to round Colin Meldrum and slip home an undeserved winner.

But, at the other end, two inspired pieces of goalkeeping from Gordon, Scotland’s No 1, kept Keith Lasley and Jim Paterson at bay to ensure success for Valdas Ivanauskas’s team. Gordon’s second save, an instinctive block from Paterson in injury-time, was stunning.

It also ensured an important win for Hearts, considering the pressure on the club going into the clash on the back of successive defeats. Their post-match huddle in the centre circle said everything about their joy and relief. Gordon said: “It wasn’t planned, but we just wanted to show everyone that we care about playing for Hearts and we want to play for our manager and the staff. We have unity.”

The goalkeeper certainly did his bit for Ivanauskas and prompted the manager to describe his man as, “the best in Scotland and one of the best in Europe”. Gordon, naturally, was a picture of modesty in the face of such praise. He said: “It’s nice to hear, but it could all go wrong next week. The first save was from a tight angle and I just put up a hand for the second. The most important thing was for the team to win. The performance didn’t matter, it was all about the result. Motherwell put a lot into it and we had to match that.”

Hearts did, but they scarcely deserved to win and Motherwell knew it.

Maurice Malpas, their manager, had to use common sense in his team selection after a home drubbing from Inverness in their previous outing and he opted for a more cautious outlook, with a five-man midfield, incorporating two defensive wing backs, protecting a back three. Meldrum replaced out-of-form Graeme Smith in goal.

There is more chance of guessing six correct lottery numbers than a starting Hearts line-up, though. For the tenth match in succession this season, Ivanauskas, or whoever it may have been, named a changed side from the previous outing, the Uefa Cup defeat away to Sparta Prague.

Out went half-a-dozen, Robbie Neilson, Bruno Aguiar, Mirsad Beslija, Mauricio Pinilla, Christophe Berra and the suspended Roman Bednar. Not really a recipe for team cohesion and fluidity — and it showed. Fortunately for those of a Hearts persuasion, they got away with it.

Malpas’s plans, however, went out of the window after only six minutes when the luckless Brian McLean, who had just returned from injury, was carried from the field after an early tussle. It was bad news. “That could be long term. I think he’s done his medial ligament,” Malpas said. A reshuffle was required, although, to their credit, Motherwell coped reasonably well with the alterations.

Chances were at a premium throughout the a fiercely contested opening half and it was the zealous tackling which raised most interval debate. Challenges clattered around Fir Park and the worst of which saw Deividas Cesnauskas, the Hearts winger, carried from the field on the stretcher McLean had warmed after a bad tackle from Richie Foran, Motherwell’s fired-up frontman. Cesnauskas’s knock turned out not to be serious, but Foran, Keith Lasley and Paul Hartley’s bookings for a spat two minutes from the end of the half summed up the previous 43.

Hearts had the better of the early opportunities. Saulius Mikoliunas and Andrius Velicka both wasted decent chances, although Motherwell had the ball in the net through Scott McDonald. However, the Australian striker’s “goal” was correctly ruled out for an offside call on McGarry.

As half-time approached, McDonald and Foran both wasted one-on-one opportunities and Malpas’s team built on that encouragement to put Hearts under severe pressure after the restart, but they were buried by a sucker-punch, the type that seems to happen to you only when you’re bottom of a table.

Marc Fitzpatrick did superbly to win another 50-50 midfield battle, but the loose ball dropped straight into the path of Hartley. With home players committed forward, the visitors had a two-on-one when Hartley released McCann and he slid a perfect pass into Mole. “The goal will do a lot for Jamie’s confidence and we’re very happy to win,” Ivanauskas said. “It didn’t matter how we got the win, we just had to get it and we showed spirit and fight.” Mole later hit a post with a lucky deflection before Gordon’s late heroics left Malpas exasperated.

He said: “We didn’t get what we deserved, but it’s a results business and Hearts are away with the three points. The better team didn’t win on the day, but we just have to keep battling away. Craig was their best player. I just wish he’d throw one into the net against us one day.”

Motherwell (3-5-2): C Meldrum 7 — S Craigan 6, M Reynolds 8, B McLean 2 (sub: S McGarry 6 5) — P Quinn 6, B Kerr 7, K Lasley 7, M Fitzpatrick 7 (sub: R McCormack 88 2), J Paterson 6 — R Foran 6, S.McDonald 7. Substitutes not used: G Smith, K McBride, S Fagan, B Donnelly, K Connelly. Booked: Lasley, Foran, Quinn.

Heart of Midlothian (4-4-2): C Gordon 7 — I Tall 7, S Pressley 7, M Zaliukas 6, L Wallace 6 — S Mikoliunas 5, P Hartley 6, J Brellier 5 (sub: R Neilson 56 3), D Cesnauskas 3 (sub: N McCann 26 5) — J Mole 7, A Velicka 5 (sub: J Makela 73 2). Substitues not used: S Banks, T Fyssas, K Ivaskevicius, C Karipidis. Booked: Hartley

Referee: I Brines

Taken from timesonline.co.uk