Banks withdrawal costs Hearts

KILMARNOCK 3
Wales 55; Nish 70 (pen); Gibson 76

HEARTS 1
Tall 90
Abbey

VLADIMIR Romanov has been conspicuous by his non-presence at Hearts games this season, but his fingerprints appeared to be all over the team yesterday. Steve Banks was out, Anthony Basso in, with the former said by Hearts' assistant coach Stevie Frail to be in need of a rest. As some pointed out, it is unusual for a goalkeeper to need a rest, especially only ten games into the season, and it was rumoured that the switch had been ordered by Romanov following the previous week's 3-1 home defeat to Dundee United. Never mind that Banks wasn't at fault for any of the goals.

The same could not be said for his replacement yesterday. Admittedly it came at a stage of the game when it hardly mattered, with Hearts two goals and one man down, but Basso didn't cover himself in glory when a poor clearance put Robbie Neilson under pressure. Neilson slipped, Willie Gibson intercepted, and the Kilmarnock midfielder did well to slide the ball beyond the out-of-position Basso for a third, and utterly decisive, goal.

The humiliation wasn't complete. That was added by Kilmarnock with their prolonged period of possession in the closing stages, each pass cheered to the rafters, even - or especially - when misplaced. On a greasy pitch, and at the end of a pretty poor match, it was impressive stuff, though in truth the scoreline didn't accurately reflect the true difference between the two sides.

It was, to put it mildly, another hugely frustrating afternoon for Hearts, who for the second week in succession fell to a 3-1 defeat at the hands of a former manager - Craig Levein last week, Jim Jefferies this. Their cause wasn't helped by two dismissals, one for Frail, for his protests following Kilmarnock's second goal, and, before that and more significantly, for their striker, Christian Nade, when the game was goalless and very much in the balance.

After a reasonable start in difficult conditions, Nade's dismissal certainly made Hearts' task immeasurably harder. It came on the eve of half time, with the striker appearing to push Frazer Wright in the face when neither player was on the ball at the time. Wright collapsed to the turf and Nade, who immediately buried his face in his shirt, was shown a straight red card.

With Nade the lone front man it meant a reshuffle for the second half. Julio Makela initially moved from midfield into an attacking role, though he only lasted eight minutes, replaced by the burly Ricardas Beniusis.

Two minutes later, Hearts fell behind. A long pass from Garry Hay, returning from injury, was flicked by Colin Nish into the path of his striking partner, Gary Wales, and the ex-Hearts player produced a superb finish - one of the few memorable pieces of skill - to slot it low into the net from around 20 yards.

At 1-0 up against a team one man down, you would have fancied Kilmarnock to control the game, but Hearts kept to the task. This frustrated Jefferies, who urged his men not to sit back, but to try and push Hearts back. Eventually it worked, with the second goal all but ending it. Danny Invincible did well to beat Ruben Palazuelos and then send over a good cross. Nish jumped and missed it, only for Neilson, his arm in the air, to handle it. A definite penalty and a second chance for Nish, who blasted the spot kick home, sending Basso the wrong way.

The goals rescued the game. It was a dismal first half, which probably owed much to the torrential rain that fell on the Rugby Park pitch about an hour before kick off. It produced a greasy surface that was hardly conducive to good football, or indeed any football. Rarely can there have been so many mistakes made by so many under so little pressure. It was dreadful.

Still, it was Hearts who began the game more positively, with Michael Stewart and Palazuelos taking a grip of the midfield, as far as a grip was possible. But invariably they too suffered in the conditions, slipping, sliding and playing slack passes.

Kilmarnock came into it as the half wore on, with Invincible proving dangerous wide on the right, but it was Nade's dismissal, on the eve of half time, that proved to be the turning point.

In the dying moments Hearts finally scored, Ibrahim Tall rising in the box to head into the net, but it offered as much consolation as the previous week's late goal - that is to say, none at all.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Frazer Wright has been an impressive figure in central defence for Kilmarnock for several weeks, and he was solid and imposing yesterday in extremely difficult conditions.

ASIDE: Among the guests at Rugby Park were cycling legends Sean Kelly and Allan Peiper. The third special guest, Scotland's David Millar, took one look at the rain and opted to give the match a miss.

Taken from the Scotsman