Pittodrie tonic for dogged Hearts

Aberdeen 1
Hearts 3

POUNDED, overwhelmed, outplayed. At times yesterday all of the above could be applied to Hearts against a commanding Aberdeen team, yet the Edinburgh club have now effected three consecutive wins with just one goal conceded. That must say something.

Chiefly, it conveys the message that notions of a crisis at Tynecastle are rather far-fetched. Valdas Ivanauskas, the head coach will ensure his job is eternally safeguarded from the clutches of majority shareholder Vladimir Romanov if his players continue to perform with the doggedness they did in the north east.

After a first half controlled by the industrious Aberdeen midfielders Gary Dempsey and Barry Nicholson, Hearts responded with class to deliver three goals of the sucker-punch variety. Even captain Steven Pressley, one of five nominees for the title of Scotland's most stylish man, was impressed with the panache of his team-mates.

"Some of our breakaways were fantastic, they really were," he said. "We had worked on them in training last week and that became very evident in the second half. It was a tremendous result. Just over a week ago people were asking big questions of us, and I think we've come up with the correct answers."

Christophe Berra's chested effort and two further strikes by Mauricio Pinilla and Saulius Mikoliunas shunted Hearts into a 3-0 lead, making it easy to forget that Aberdeen could plausibly have been three goals to the good themselves but for their profligacy in the first half. By the time they did fashion a way past the defiant Craig Gordon, Dyron Daal's consolatory effort mattered little to the outcome.

Whilst conscious of riding their luck on occasion during the afternoon, the visitors' celebrations at full-time illustrated the deep sense of achievement brought by a convincing result at the home of one of the country's in-form clubs. There could be no better tonic for Hearts ahead of their midweek rendezvous in Prague than winning at Pittodrie. Particularly after the first-half domination of Aberdeen.

"The last three games have brought good results for us but it's a different game on Thursday," noted Paul Hartley. "We have to go to Prague, take the game to them and try to get two goals. We know it's going to be hard going into the game as underdogs but you never know what can happen. People have written us off, saying the tie is finished. But there is a belief within the squad that we can go there and get a result."

Aberdeen forced themselves upon Hearts from the opening seconds as the former Tynecastle striker Lee Miller threaded a through ball to Nicholson in the inside right channel. The sense of a threat to his goal brought Gordon off his line to block. Seconds later Nicholson's corner was headed only partially clear by Marius Zaliukas for Dempsey to return a low shot just wide of the post.

Dempsey then fed Nicholson on the right of the visitors' penalty area with a ball over the head of Lee Wallace that rendered the full-back helpless. The former Dunfermline midfielder connected perfectly as the ball dropped in front of him, only to see his shot parried by Gordon low to the goalkeeper's left. Then Dempsey lofted another pass in behind Wallace for the on- running Darren Mackie. Faced by Berra, the striker's cross-cum-shot eluded Gordon and clipped the Hearts crossbar.

Hearts were considerably vulnerable between midfield and defence, with Zaliukas toiling to match the holding-midfield standards set by Julien Brellier, who was left on the substitutes' bench.

On the left flank, teenager Lee Wallace was over-exposed to Nicholson as Neil McCann offered little back-up to his full-back, and Jimmy Calderwood's side were quick to capitalise on these deficiencies in the first half.

Hearts' first effort on target came in the 15th minute when Hartley's free-kick was held comfortably by Langfield but, on 21 minutes, Miller executed a dangerous effort from 30 yards which skimmed inches wide of goal with Gordon diving full length. Ivanauskas was becoming visibly more animated in the technical area, whilst on the pitch his players toiled to obtain a hold in midfield in contrast to the excellent Dempsey and Nicholson.

Hearts' lack of composure was emphasised by bookings for Pressley and McCann, although the latter could consider himself a touch unfortunate to have his name taken after Miller appeared determined to run into the winger's tackle.

A quick free-kick by Hartley almost fashioned an opportunity for Pinilla but, from an acute angle, he shot wide. Wallace then took a direct approach with a vicious left-footed strike from 30 yards, Langfield requiring to be airborne to deflect the ball for a corner. Then two consecutive efforts from Mackie and Dempsey at the other end were bravely blocked by Pressley and Berra respectively on the periphery of their own penalty area.

Five minutes from half-time, Mikoliunas fed McCann in some space and the winger opted for an early shot that ricocheted off the inner thigh of Michael Hart, making for an awkward save for Langfield.

The Lithuanian then exercised the home goalkeeper himself with a long-range strike before Ricky Foster forced Gordon into a magnificent save. The midfielder drove to the edge of the Hearts penalty box and unleashed a ball that was headed for the top-left corner until Gordon's acrobatic intervention.

Hearts had two penalty claims in the early stages of the second half. The first was when Pinilla fell under a perfectly-executed challenge by Russell Anderson but the second carried more credence when Hartley chased a loping pass into the Aberdeen box with Foster at his back. "I wouldn't go down in the box for nothing, I'm not a diver," said the Hearts player. "I was right through in front of Foster, who just clipped me. Sometimes to you get them, but I'm not going to go down in the box easy when I've got a chance of scoring a goal. I'm not that type of player."

In between the penalty howls, Nicholson passed up a glaring opportunity, possibly the easiest of the afternoon. Unmarked, he contrived to head Chris Clark's fine cross from the byline over the crossbar from seven yards. The wastefulness was always likely to prove costly and, in the 64th minute, Hearts ensured it did. Hartley's left-sided free-kick saw Berra tower above Andrew Considine for the ball to bounce off his chest and elude Langfield on its way to the net.

The goal roused the Tynecastle side, and their travelling supporters, from slumber and as the inhabitants of Edinburgh declared their backing from the south stand, the players' performance took on a more composed complexion for the remainder of the day. Hartley began to exercise more control and those around him took inspiration. This was never better illustrated than in the cohesive build-up to goal number two.

Substitute Deividas Cesnauskis flicked the ball past the grounded Scott Severin on the right touchline to be collected by Mikoliunas on the run. His low cross was for Bednar, and a classy back-heel took it into Pinilla's path for a right-footed shot low to Langfield's right.

Pinilla's confidence was now flowing and in the 81st minute he spun his marker on the half-way line to play in Mikoliunas. With the offside trap sprung, the often- barracked Lithuanian answered a portion of his critics with a delightful execution high into the net - another display of counter-attacking brilliance that Calderwood could only lament afterwards.

"We dominated the match for the first hour, until they scored," said the Aberdeen manager. "Craig Gordon saved them again and again and they took a massive lift from their opener. We pushed people forward and were caught by sucker-punches."

As could be expected, Nicholson and Dempsey were heavily involved in Aberdeen's goal. Dempsey took his colleague's pass and knocked it first time in to Daal in the penalty box for a touch and a finish that Gordon, for once, could not prevent.

There was a sour finish to the occasion when Pinilla was sent off. The Chilean was cautioned for his supposedly provocative celebrations in front of the home support after his goal, and then threw the ball away ill-advisedly on 84 minutes to become the sixth Hearts player dismissed this season.

But, in amongst indecipherable Vladimir Romanov statements and news of an all-Edinburgh CIS Cup fourth-round tie to come, Ivanauskas and his players deserve enormous credit for remaining focused on keeping apace with SPL leaders Celtic. Defeat at Pittodrie would have left Hearts six points behind in the championship but, with resilience like this, no team in Scotland will be able to pull clear of them with any ease.

Taken from the Scotsman