JAMBOS BOSS HAPPY WITH CUP ROMP

By Gavin McCafferty, PA Sport

Hearts manager Valdas Ivanauskas praised his side's professionalism after their 4-0 win at Alloa in the CIS Insurance Cup third round.

The Lithuanian made an incredible 11 changes from the side that won at Motherwell on Sunday and one of those handed a rare start repaid him in style as Juho Makela struck a hat-trick.

Hearts took time to get going but Makela struck either side of half-time and they were never seriously threatened afterwards.

Makela completed his hat-trick with eight minutes left and Bruno Aguiar rounded off the scoring with a wonderful chip two minutes from time.

Ivanauskas said: "The players worked hard and scored good goals. I was happy with how serious the players took the game, they understood the situation. Not just in this game but in every game. It's a good result - it's positive to score four goals."

The Tynecastle chief admitted the gulf in class between the teams made it difficult to judge just how well his fringe players coped with their opportunity.

The visitors' job was made easier in the final 10 minutes when Chris Townsley was sent off for a second bookable offence.

Ivanauskas said: "The quality was different but it was still 0-0 for a long time."

Alloa boss Allan Maitland was disappointed that his side conceded a goal so quickly in the second half. The half was only 30 seconds old when Neil McCann set up Makela for a simple finish.

Maitland said: "It's hard enough playing against a Premier League team when you're 1-0 down but to go two down so quickly was tough to take."

The Recreation Park boss thought Townsley's sending off for a simple foul was unfair.

He said: "I thought Charlie Richmond (referee) was a little bit harsh there."

Taken from sportinglife.com