Calum Elliot brace eases Hearts nerves

By Ewing Grahame

Hearts (1) 1 Dunfermline (1) 1
Aet: 4-1

Goals from club captain Christophe Berra and a double from striker Calum Elliot took Hearts into the quarter-finals of the CIS Insurance Cup but the scoreline flattered the home side.

Berra headed home from point-blank range after Andrius Velicka had nodded on a Laryea Kingston corner and Scotland Under-21 star Elliot scored with two crisp angled drives during the first half of extra-time.

Stephen Simmons had taken them there by heading an equaliser from Owen Morrison's corner with seven minutes remaining.

Compared to the Vladimir Romanov era at Tynecastle, Tinkerman Claudio Ranieri's team selections have the consistency of a metronome.

Last night six changes were made to the starting XI which lost at Inverness on Saturday, largely as a result of the two unforced substitutions made at half-time during that fixture.

The consistency of performance craved by the owner is consequently undermined by the constant meddling with personnel and tactics. Visitors Dunfermline, themselves enduring a torrid start to life in the First Division following relegation last season, seemed to draw succour from the uncertainty surrounding their opponents.

Stephen Kenny, under considerable pressure at East End Park, perhaps understandably elected to frustrate Hearts during the early stages.

Flooding the midfield and playing with nine men behind the ball is one thing, but former Hearts midfielder Stephen Simmons was fortunate to escape with a yellow card for a dreadful two-footed lunge at Christian Nade after 20 minutes.

Their smothering tactics worked initially but were always likely to be undone by a piece of individual skill, such as that provided by Kestutis Ivaskevicius in the 33rd minute.

His close control saw him evade three attempted tackles on the left flank and his cutback for Calum Elliot drew an injudicious challenge from Calum Woods. Nade converted the resulting penalty with aplomb.

Their game plan in tatters, the visitors were forced to adopt a more expansive approach. Already short on confidence, though, creativity did not come easily to the Pars, although the dive which earned Scott McBride a caution came with a 3.6 degree of difficulty.

Hearts would have sealed victory long before the end of normal time if Elliot had not squandered two simple openings while, at the other end, a Tam McManus free-kick came back off Steve Banks' right-hand post.

Match details

Hearts (4-4-2): Banks; Neilson, Kancelskis, Berra, Goncalves; Kingston, Stewart (Palazuelos 29), Jonsson, Ivaskevicius (Ksanavicius 65); Nade (Velicka 76), Elliot.
Subs: Kurskis (g), Zaliukas.
Goal: Nade (33), Berra (97), Elliot (100, 102).
Booked: Jonsson.
Dunfermline (4-5-1): Gallacher; Young, Bamba, Woods, Glass; Williamson (Ryan 61), Crawford, Simmons, Phinn (Morrison 79), McBride (Hamilton 79); McManus.
Subs: Murdoch (g), McCulloch.
Goal: Simmons (84).
Booked: Simmons, McBride, Woods.
Referee: Brian Winter.

Taken from telegraph.co.uk