By COLLEEN PATERSON
WITH HEARTS IN GERMANY
HEARTS 5 Ivaskevicius (6), Makela (10, 22), Stewart (52), Jonsson (88).
HERACLES 1 Smit (63)

A STRONG Hearts side made light work of Heracles on Friday night, putting five past the Dutch outfit in the penultimate match of their pre-season tour of Germany.

A double from Juho Makela and strikes from Kestutis Ivaskevicius and Michael Stewart gave Hearts victory, with Heracles' only reply coming in the second half from Marnix Smit.

The Tynecastle side gave Eggert Jonsson a start and could afford to leave out the likes of Larry Kingston and Lee Wallace but still had enough to dispose of their opponents.

Ivaskevicius looked sharp down the right and was the star of the show for the Jambos as he got them off to the perfect start.

Hearts scored after just seven minutes when a cracking ball from the middle from Ivaskevicius found Makela. Heracles keeper Martin Pieckenhagen came off his line quickly and got a hand to the ball but could only divert it into the patch of the Lithuanian who held off the challenge of two defenders to slot the ball home.

Another telling pass, this time from Stewart, gave Hearts another chance just a couple of minutes later, the former Hibs midfielder picking out Andrius Velicka. He flicked the ball onto Makela and the Finn teed up Ivaskevicius who unleashed a thundering effort that was just inches wide.

Hearts only needed another couple of minutes to double their advantage though, Ivaskevicus continuing his blistering start to the game by sending a diagonal ball over to the far side of the box for Makela to drill the ball low and into the net behind the Heracles keeper.

He tried an identical move shortly after, again picking out Makela, but this time his effort was down and into the turf, taking the pace off of it and allowing Piek to collect.

Velicka looked keen to get in on the act and let fly from the right-hand side of the box but while there was plenty of power behind it, he couldn't stop his effort from drifting just wide of the keeper's left-hand post.

They made it three, though, in 22 minutes. Stewart again showed the influence he could have on the side this season, sending a ball over the top of the Heracles defence for Christophe Berra, who headed it down and into the path of Makela who forced it over the line.

The Dutch side made a rare break forward before half time, only to see Tomas Kancleskis made a good block to send Igor Glusevic's shot behind for a corner that came to nothing.

The Jambos made two changes at the break, bringing on Robbie Neilson and Sean Mackle for Tomas Kancelskis and Ivaskevicius.

There hadn't been much for Craig Gordon to do in the opening 45 minutes, but the big keeper showed his quality with a brilliant save just minutes after the restart. Everton Ramos De Silva slipped the ball into the path of Glusevic and his effort looked like it was going in all the way, only for Gordon to soar high to his left and get a hand to the ball, tipping it behind for a corner.

The match was already over as a contest but it was four in 52 and again it was an impressive move from Anatoli Korobochka's side, Makela with a backheel in to the feet of Stewart who slotted home with ease.

The Dutch side pulled one back in 63 minutes after Berra had conceded a free-kick 22 yards out. There was a delay for some jostling in the box between Marius Zaliukas and a Heracles player but it didn't distract Smit from whipping the dead ball home.

Stewart was replaced by Rui Baiao, quickly followed by Michal Pospisil's introduction at the expense of Velicka in 67 minutes.

Makela could have bagged his hat-trick when Neil McCann sent in to high ball, only for Pieckenhagen to leave him frustrated with a brilliant
reflex stop from his header. The Finn was denied a third when he was replaced by Branimar Kostadinov just seconds after that miss.

Hearts rounded off the scoring with just under two minutes to go, when Jonsson was sent tumbling in the box after a challenge Klavan and the young Icelander slotted home cooly from 12 yards.

Hearts: Gordon; Kancelskis, Zaliukas, Berra, Karpidis; Ivaskevicius, Stewart, Jonsson, McCann; Velicka, Makela. Subs: Neilson, Banks, Pospisil, Park, Mackle, Kostadinov, Baio.

Heracles: Martin Preckenhagen; Jan Wuytens, Mark Looms, Rob Maas, Remon de Vries, Igor Gluscevic, Everton Ramos da Silva, Marnix Smit, Ragnar Klavan, Kwame Quansah, Karim Bridji. Subs: Pasveer, Michalke, Daelemans, Rosinik, Lubbers.

Referee: Detlef Scheppe

Taken from the Scotsman