Hearts 1-0 Hull City

Aug 4 2008 by Anthony Haggerty

AUDRIUS KSANAVICIUS ensured Csaba Laszlo got off to a winning start at Tynecastle with the only goal as Hearts beat English Premier League new boys Hull.

The Lithuanian headed home a Ruben Palazuelos cross after 32 minutes to secure a narrow win for the Jambos in a low-key clash devoid of incident.

But Hearts supporters are still awaiting their first glimpse of new signing David Obua with the Uganda international yet to receive a work permit.

The home side should have drawn first blood after seven minutes when patient build-up play from Ghanaian playmaker Laryea Kingston put Audrius Ksanavicius in on goal but the Lithuanian midfielder pulled his shot woefully wide.

Sixty seconds later midfielder Giovanni Gomez fired in a 35-yard free-kick for Hull that had Steve Banks scrambling across his line to turn away to safety.

Phil Brown’s men tried their luck from long range again when Andrew Dawson’s 20 yardfree-kick dipped narrowly over the top after 13 minutes.

Kingston and Ksanavicius were involved in the thick of the action and the pair combined again for the Lithuanian to hit a weak shot straight at Boaz Myhill.

Laszlo was animated in the Hearts technical area at all times and even at this early stage it looks like he’ll add to the list of colourful characters who have graced the club in recent years.

The Jambos took the lead with a well-worked goal. Jason Thomson swung a cross into the box that skimmed off the head of Eggert Jonsson and drifted out wide to Palazuelos.

He looked up and his inch perfect cross from the left was expertly guided into the bottom right-hand corner by Ksanavicius.

It was a goal Ksanavicius’ first half industry and endeavour richly deserved.

Former Celtic transfer target George Boateng then became the first player to have his name taken for a foul on Michael Stewart after 39 minutes.

Hull brought on ex-Aberdeen striker Dean Windass for Caleb Folan at the start of the second period and his introduction brought the obligatory chorus of boos to which the hitman responded with a cheeky wave.

Hearts then handed a debut to youngster Johnny Brown, who replaced Palazuelos after 46 minutes.

Windass won a free-kick for his side 30 yards from goal and for the second time Banks had to be alert when faced with another fierce Gomez strike.

Motherwell boss Mark McGhee was an interested spectator in the stands ahead of his side’s SPL bow against Hearts at Tynecastle on Saturday.

McGhee knocked back the chance to take over at the Jambos in the summer to lead the Lanarkshire men into Europe in the UEFA Cup after a much-publicised managerial chase for his services by Tynecastle owner Vladimir Romanov.

The Jambos threw on Greek defender Christos Karipidis for Jonsson after 58 minutes and moments later Boateng made way for Craig Fagan.

Peter Halmosi then replaced former England international Nick Barmby in 63 minutes and Richard Garcia came on for Gomez four minutes later as the game began to loose any sense of fluency.

Ksanavicius was replaced by countryman Saulius Mikoliunas after 71 minutes as the pace of the game dropped dramatically. Hearts’ forgotten hitman Juho Makela came on for Jamie Mole for the final 11 minutes as Hull brought on Bryan Hughes for Dean Marney.

Jambos young defender Jason Thomson then left the field to be replaced by Kestutis Ivaskevicius. Hull also flung on Ryan France and Liam Cooper for Andrew Dawson and Ian Ashbee while Ryan Wallace replaced the impressive Kingston and Deividas Cesnauskis came on for Andrew Driver for the closing stages for Hearts.

There was still enough time for Wallace to drive forward and fire an effort towards goal that was deflected wide for a corner.

But after that there were no more additions to the scoring as the Jambos comfortably held on to their slender advantage to register a morale-boosting home win against a decent side.

Both Laszlo and the Jambos fans will be hoping for a similar result against Motherwell when the SPL ball starts rolling for real.

HEARTS Banks,Thomson (Ivaskevicius 81), Jonsson (Karipidis 58), Berra, Zaliukas, Palazuelos (Brown 46), Ksanavicius (Mikoliunas 71), Stewart, Mole (Makela 79), Kingston (Wallace 86), Driver (Cesnauskis 88).
Subs not used: Rapnik, McDonald, McGowan.

HULL Myhill, Dawson (Cooper 85), Ashbee (France 85), Turner, Barmby (Halmosi 63), Gomez (Garcia 67), Folan (Windass 46), Boateng (Fagan 59), Ricketts,Marney (Hughes 80), Gardner.
Subs not used: Doyle,Duke.

Referee Calum Murray

Taken from the Daily Record