Hearts 1-1 Kilmarnock

Gordon Waddell At Tynecastle

HEARTS 1

KILMARNOCK 1

HEARTS survived a massive test of character with a stunning second-half fightback but still crashed to second bottom of the SPL.

A man down - again - and trailing by a goal at the break their horror run of six straight defeats looked certain to be stretched.

But when caretaker boss Stevie Frail sent his players out five minutes early for the second half they were like bulls at a gate by the time the whistle went and beasted into Killie from the off.

Andrius Velicka's 10th goal of the season just after the hour mark squared Paul Di Giacomo's 45th-minute opener - and Hearts' workload cancelled out the effect of losing Calum Elliot to two stupid bookings inside six first-half minutes.

It was their EIGHTH red of the season - but Frail was determined to find positives after the game.

He said: "We'll talk about the red card privately with Calum but I was proud of the spirit we showed.

"I decided we were going out early for the second half before we lost the goal. I felt we needed to lift the crowd and fire us up. And it worked.

"Our tempo and attitude in the second half was excellent and my players deserve all the credit."

Neither manager had his problems to seek beforehand. One win in 12 for Jambos against one in 10 for Killie. Five changes for the home side, four for the away lot.

Anyone expecting this to be anything other than a mayhem-packed scrap would have been certified insane.

Killie pitched in Martyn Corrigan for his debut from Motherwell and Di Giacomo after his loan to Partick.

Their 3-4-3 line-up, with Colin Nish dropping just off the front, took the Jambos a while to sort out.

Midfielders Eggert Jonsson and Ruben Palazuelos never got a sniff but at least Hearts' wide players excelled, Deividas Cesnauskas on the right and Audrius Ksanavicius on the left.

Ksanavicius forced a great fingertip stop from Alan Combe then Cesnauskas - incredibly making his first Tynecastle start in 15 months - caused havoc.

He made a brilliant dart in from the right before firing against Combe's legs then Jamie Hammill forced Robbie Neilson's follow-up out for a corner.

That was when all hell broke loose. Elliot had earlier been booked for a frustrated lunge at Danny Invincibile.

Then he steamed in on Tim Clancy as he tried to clear

REF WATCH

JOHN UNDERHILL took 90 minutes of stick from the stands as Jambo fans let rip with their feelings about Calum Elliot's sending off. Thing is though, the ref got it spot on and Elliot had to go for two stupid, deserved bookings. The whistler wasn't fooled by much but was too soft on Nish for his theatrics. Rating: 7/10.

MATCH STATS

SHOTS ON 7

SHOTS OFF 3

OFFSIDE 2

FOULS 8

CORNERS 11

BOOKING 1

SHOTS ON 4

SHOTS OFF 6

OFFSIDE 8

FOULS 17

CORNERS 3

BOOKING 1

Taken from the Sunday Mail