Gretna brokenhearted

Feb 13 2008

GRETNA’S re-cast side were out-punched at Tynecastle as Andrius Velicka secured the points with two first-half strikes.

Davie Irons’ side lost an early goal and never really recovered as Hearts won comfortably enough in the end.

Gretna did enjoy some pressure in the second half but rarely troubled Steve Banks and their cause was not helped by a red card for Danny Hall after he picked up two yellows.

Hearts could have won by a more comfortable margin but some excellent goalkeeping from Greg Fleming kept the damage to a minimum.

Velicka had a chance for Hearts in the opening minute but Fleming forced the shot wide. But the goal was only delayed. Michael Stewart set up Velicka again and he cracked an unstoppable shot high into the net.

Hearts dominated the early stages with Stewart seeing a lot of the ball in midfield.

Gretna had an opportunity to equalise after 13 minutes when Kenny Deuchar outjumped the Hearts’ defence to get on the end of Gavin Skelton’s cross but he sent his header over the top.

A few minutes later Steve Banks had to be well positioned to clutch a header from Aurelien Collin after a long throw-in had unsettled the home defence.

But the French defender was injured in the process and, after attempting to play on, he had to limp off to be replaced by Craig Barr.

Christos Karipidis almost made it 2-0 with a terrific header from an Andrew Driver cross but Fleming made a wonderful save.

Driver had a good chance shortly before half-time after Paul Murray was short with a passback but he shot carelessly over.

Three minutes from the break, Hearts were awarded a penalty when Hall pulled down Velicka in the box and the striker took the spot-kick himself to fire it beyond Fleming.

The second half followed a similar pattern with Hearts piling players forward in an attempt to kill off the game.

Chris Innes made a fine challenge to prevent Velicka grabbing his hat-trick and then Deividas Cesnauskis thumped a shot across the face of goal with Velicka hoping for a pass in the centre.

But Gretna enjoyed a decent spell midway through the second half.

Steve Banks was called into action to beat away a well-struck effort from Mickael Buscher.

Gretna were reduced to 10 men after 65 minutes when Hall picked up his second booking of the match after he fouled Audrius Ksanavicius.

Velicka should have completed his hat-trick when a long ball from Christophe Berra beat the offside trap but he tugged his shot wide.

The striker did manage to get the ball in the net right at the death but it was ruled offside.

Hearts: Banks; Neilson, Karipidis, Berra, Goncalves, Cesnauskis (Mikoliunas 70), Stewart (McCann 84), Palazuelos, Driver, Velicka, Ksanavicius (Elliot 77); Subs not used: Basso, Wallace, Zaliukas, Beniusis.

Gretna: Fleming; Hall, Collin (Barr 22), Innes, Naughton, Griffiths (Meynell 60), Murray (Wilkinson 77), Skelton, Buscher, Deuchar, Kissock; Subs not used: Krysiak, McGill, Deverdics, Makinwa.

Referee: C Richmond.