That's An Ell Of A Way To Ease Nerves

HEARTS 1

DUNFERMLINE 1

(AET. 90 mins: 4-1)

CALUM ELLIOT pulled on a pair of yellow boots last night and saved Hearts from a red face in the CIS Cup.

The striker netted a double with his natty footwear in the first half of extra time to fire the Jambos into the quarter finals.

Hearts recently promised to give free kit to every schoolkid in the east of Scotland but they came perilously close to selling the jerseys against Dunfermline.

They were leading by a first-half penalty from Christian Nade, his first strike for the club, but they passed up four gilt-edged chances to put the game beyond the First Division strugglers after the break.

They were made to pay when former Jambo Stephen Simmons nodded an unlikely equaliser seven minutes from time.

But Christophe Berra played the skipper's role to perfection as he nodded his side back in front seven minutes into extra time.

Elliot then struck with an almost identical double, pulling shots across keeper Paul Gallacher and into the corner of the net to make amends for his earlier wastefulness.

Hearts ditched six of the players who had flopped at Inverness at the weekend while Dunfermline dropped five who had started in their 2-1 defeat at Clyde.

Their UEFA Cup exploits allowed Stephen Kenny's side exemption from this competition until this third-round tie but they hardly started as if they were in the mood for another run to Hampden.

Only two minutes had gone when Jose Goncalves sent a raking pass over the flat-footed Pars defence but Gallacher rushed to punch clear from the hulking approach of Nade.

Moments later Nade turned provider with a super pass into the path of Elliot but Gallacher again rushed from his line to collect the ball from the feet of the striker.

The Jambos were being given too much time and space in the middle of the park to pick out their forward passes although Sol Bamba was alert to block a Laryea Kingston effort after Nade had surged down the right and teed up his team-mate with an inch-perfect cut-back.

Kingston elected to shoot from 20 yards moments later but his low effort did not trouble Gallacher.

Simmons was lucky only to be shown a yellow card midway through the half for pole-axing Nade, adding to an earlier caution for Eggert Jonsson for a foul on Tam McManus.

Hearts suffered a blow after 30 minutes when Michael Stewart, who had been their most influential midfield presence, hobbled off to be replaced by Ruben Palazuelos.

But that was forgotten within three minutes as they took the lead from the penalty spot with the most clear-cut award of this or any other season.

Kestutis Ivaskevicius brilliantly dashed down the left wing, evading two tackles before pulling the ball back for Elliot. He sucked Calum Woods into making a rash and foolish tackle that left whistler Brian Winter with no alternative but to point to the spot.

Kenny leapt from the dugout in fury at the naivety of his player but Nade did not complain as he stepped up to roll the ball into the corner of the net from 12 yards.

Woods made amends of sorts when his last-ditch tackle prevented Ivaskevicius from marauding into the box down the left as the balance of power returned to Hearts. The Pars started the second half more aggressively and Stevie Crawford almost hauled them level, only for Tomas Kancelskis to steal in from nowhere to block his effort.

But normal service was soon resumed as Kancelskis sent in a looping header from a Kingston corner that Gallacher held.

Nade, who was a constant danger dropping deep and using his strength to link midfield and attack, poked Kingston clear after an hour but he fluffed a 20-yard volley that dropped harmlessly wide of Gallacher's right-hand post.

Nade also fired over as Hearts probed for the decisive second but finally the Pars began to show some fight of their own. Crawford glanced a header from a Stephen Glass freekick across the six-yard box but Bamba just failed to connect.

Hearts heeded the warning and on the next attack a Kingston freekick was glanced wide by Elliot, who really should have found the target.

He scorned another great chance minutes later when Nade, easily the game's best player, drew a defender then planted a pass into the path of his team-mate.

Elliot took two strides forward into the box but his effort from 16 yards was too straight and Gallacher dived low to beat away his shot.

The Pars gambled in the closing stages as Kenny threw on Jim Hamilton and Owen Morrison and it almost paid off when Hamilton was fouled at the edge of the box and McManus curled a free-kick off the inside of Banks' right-hand post.

But Banks was picking the ball out of his net in 83 minutes when a corner from Morrison picked out Simmons who powered a header beyond the helpless keeper.

Hearts threw players forward in a bid to snatch the winner their play deserved but Robbie Neilson blazed over when it looked easier to score.

McManus almost gave the Pars the lead with another delightful free kick in 95 minutes, this time palmed to safety by Banks. The resulting corner broke to Hamilton who slid his shot just past.

At the other end, Gallacher beat away a fierce drive from sub Audrius Ksanavicius.

But the game swung back in favour of Hearts when Kingston's corner in 97 minutes was nodded back across goal by sub Andrius Velicka and Berra rose to nod his side back in front.

Elliot made sure Hearts would be in the fourth-round draw tomorrow afternoon three minutes later when he fired the third across Gallacher and into the net after Kingston had again turned provider.

His second goal two minutes was almost a carbon copy, although it was Velicka who played him in to beat Gallacher with a diagonal drive.

HEARTS - Banks, Neilson, Elliot, Berra, Stewart (Palazuelos 30), Goncalves, Jonsson, Ivaskevicius (Ksanavicius 65), Nade (Velicka 76), Kingston, Kancelskis. Not used: Zaliukas, Kurskis.

DUNFERMLINE - Gallacher, Young, Glass, Simmons, Bamba, Woods, Williamson, (Ryan 62) Crawford, McManus, Phinn (Morrison 78), McBride (Hamilton 78). Not used: McCulloch, Murdoch.

Referee: B Winter.

Taken from the Daily Record