Four play from rampant Hearts

Arriving in the capital with just one victory thus far, United belied their form by taking the game to their hosts and had they received any luck they could have been two up before they went behind. To suffer the indignity of seeing their deficit doubled in the last three minutes was far crueller than they deserved.

Showing six changes from the side that played Sparta Prague in the Uefa Cup midweek, Hearts took half-an-hour to get into their stride, but when they did, they produced two clinically taken goals to push United on to the back foot. Valdas Ivanauskas, the head coach, insisted that the changes had not jeopardised Hearts’ good league form. “It was not a risk because I know that our spirits and our quality are high,” he said.

From the start, Saulius Mikoliunas and Mirsad Beslija had shown their potential to rip apart the United defence, but without all the components clicking into place it was the visitors who created the greater early threat. After just eight minutes, Noel Hunt found himself in a goalscoring position just six yards out, but with the Hearts defence calling for an offside decision that did not arrive, Hunt cannoned the ball of f the shoulder of a Craig Gordon, the Hearts goalkeeper.

United continued to look the better-organised side and on 23 minutes, Stuart Duff’s powerful header from a corner bounced off the corner of the bar and post. When Barry Robson tried to capitalise on the loose ball he went down under a heavy and dubious challenge inside the penalty area.

Then when Hunt tapped the ball into the net on 27 minutes, Gordon was relieved to see the linesman flag for offside. The decision against Hunt, who had followed up after Gordon had blocked a Duff header, was certainly questionable.

Disunity in the Hearts ranks was clear. Steven Pressley, the captain, harangued the midfield, while Paul Hartley had a very public display of disapproval of Andrius Velicka after the latter failed to catch up with Hartley’s through ball. The home side, however, were putting together better and better moves and finally got it exactly right when Mikoliunas slid a perfectly weighted pass down the inside left channel for Velicka to curve the ball into Derek Stillie’s net.

For the next eight minutes, United appeared to be shell-shocked as Hearts sought to take advantage. A rasping sot from Hartley produced a fine save from Stillie, who was still on the floor when Mikoliunas blasted the rebound over the bar, and a few minutes later, Hartley spurned a chance after Mikoliunas took advantage of a slip by Mark Kerr in midfield.

Hearts finally doubled their lead when another perfectly weighted pass indicated that the team was at last gelling. From wide right, Beslija’s cross was met by Juho Makela who slotted the ball home from a few yards out, his run having split the United central defence.

With a 2-0 lead to protect Hearts slowed the tempo of the game after the break, but even then it was Gordon who was the busier of the two goalkeepers. Robson broke into the penalty area only to send his shot across the face of goal and a neat three-man move between Robson, Duff and Hunt sent the latter into the area only to have his last pass checked by an alert defender.

Despite the fact that it had taken 20 minutes for Hearts to settle into a coherent side, Ivanauskas remained comfortable enough to make further changes in the second half, Roman Bednar, Deividas Cesnauskis and Jamie Mole all making their way on during the last half-hour of the game. Cesnauskis struck the bar from 25 yards moments later.

Hearts made sure of the victory when Hartley slotted home a penalty with just three minutes remaining after Beslija was brought down in the box by Christian Kalvenes, but further salt was added to United’s wounds when Bednar chased down Robson in the left channel before squaring the ball to Mole, who had the simplest of jobs to net Hearts’ fourth goal moments later.

Heart of Midlothian (4-4-2): C Gordon 6 — I Tall, 7, S Pressley, 7, C Berra 5, T Fyssas 6 — M Beslija 8, B Aguiar 7, P Hartley 8, S Mikoliunas 7 (sub: J Mole, 83 min) — A Velicka 7, J Makela 7 (sub: R Bednar, 61 6). Substitutes not used: S Banks, R Neilson, L Wallace, M Zaliukas. Booked: Berra.

Dundee United (4-4-1-1): D Stillie 6 — C Kavenes 6, D McCracken 6, A Archibald 6, D Proctor 6 — C Conway 7 (sub: C Samuel, 60 7), M Kerr 6, C Cameron 7, B Robson 7 — S Duff 7 — N Hunt 7. Substitutes not used: E McLean, L Mair, C Brewster, G Kenneth, W Easton, G Smith. Booked: Kerr.

Taken from timesonline.co.uk