By Ewing Grahame, 30/08/2008

Scorers: HAMILTON: Kyle HEARTS: Zaliukas, Driver

ANDY DRIVER notched the winner to lift Hearts into second place — and then urged boss Csaba Laszlo to sign Celtic misfit Derek Riordan so he can fire them back into Europe.

Driver reckons the former Hibs hero would be the perfect solution to Hearts’ scoring problems.

He would be a controversial signing, but if a deal can be done before midnight tomorrow then Driver reckons Deek would be welcomed with open arms at Tynecastle.

Marius Zaliuska headed Hearts in front before Driver struck and although Derek Lyle got a goal back ten minutes from time the Jambos were always in control.

Driver said: “Derek’s proved that wherever he’s gone he’s scored goals. He scored a lot for Hibs, when he’s been given a chance at Celtic he’s scored and I’ve played against him when he’s been in their reserves and he scores for them as well.

“No disrespect to any of the players we’ve got, but the problem we’ve had in a few games this season is not scoring.

“Derek is certainly someone that will come in and do that if we can get him.”

Driver also confessed he almost tried for a penalty instead of scoring the winner.

Accies midfielder Simon Mensing had been forced into the heart of the home defence after Chris Swailes suffered a hamstring injury and he gave the ball away to the English winger.

He then tried to chop him down as he went past him and Driver admitted: “I was tempted to go down at first.

“A few of the boys said I’d have been in trouble if I’d missed because I should have gone for the penalty. But I’m not the sort who looks to go down. I don’t remember hitting my shot, though. I just saw it go in — it was all down to luck.

“We made hard work of it and the last ten minutes were a bit scary.

“But Accies have an impressive home record so this was a very good result for us, even though we could have made it a bit easier on ourselves.

“I’ve never played in a game which was as fast as that. They didn’t give us a second on the ball, but scoring the first goal helped us.

“We didn’t get that goal against Airdrie, but I think we’ve proved that result was just a blip. Teams tend to go on a roll and our performances have been pretty consistent. We’re now holding on to get results while last year we wouldn’t have done.

“We’ll just continue to take each game as it comes, grind out results and see where that takes us.”

Zaliukas opened the scoring for the visitors when he was left unmarked by the home defence and he planted his free header from Driver’s corner behind Tomas Cerny from just six yards out.

The Czech kept Accies in it with a stunning diving save from a looping David Obua header, but he was left helpless when Mensing gifted Driver Hearts’ second. Accies created just the one chance in the first half — Richard Offiong releasing sub James McCarthy only for keeeper Marian Kello to save bravely at the 17-year-old’s feet.

However, they battled back into the game and super sub Derek Lyle gave them a lifeline when he headed home a cross from David Elebert.

Accies couldn’t find a second goal, however, and Laryea Kingston, the best player on show by a mile, almost clinched it for Hearts with a solo run and a shot which went inches wide two minutes from time.

Hamilton boss Billy Reid blasted his shot-shy strikers after the game. Offiong, Joel Thomas and Lucas Akins made no impression on the Hearts defence. Reid said: “Derek Lyle did more in 15 minutes than the three of them did all day.

“We didn’t get started at all. Our important midfield players, James McArthur and Alex Neil, didn’t get out of the blocks and we didn’t defend their first goal.

“Their second also came from a mistake and that knocked the wind out of our sails because we were in the ascendancy at the time. However, I thought Hearts were hanging on at the end.”

Lyle was delighted to score his first-ever SPL goal, but he believes Accies will come back stronger after this lesson.

He said: “The goal might not have meant anything in terms of the match but it was good for my confidence to get it.

“We knew we couldn’t afford any slip-ups against Hearts because they’re a quality side. However, we gifted them two goals of a start and that’s just criminal.

“We’ll learn from that, though, and we’ll bounce back. It took us until the second half to get going and don’t know why that is.”

Hearts boss Laszlo was delighted by his players’ response to the midweek Co-operative Insurance Cup defeat from Airdrie.

He said: “At the moment, we must collect the points because that is the most important thing.

“But I can’t forget Wednesday’s game. Today was a little bit similar. We were up against a team who came from the First Division who had the spirit to win against a team used to being in the SPL.

“But you could see the spirit was there in our team and we also played some good football. There was no luck involved — we had the game in hand.

“I was a bit sad at the way we played in the last ten minutes but that is the problem with a young team, they think the game is over at 2-0 and it isn’t. Next week we must work hard and get better.

“We had good variation today, though, with Laryea Kingston, David Obua and Andy Driver all changing positions.”

HAMILTON: Cerny, Stevenson, Swailes (McCarthy 19), Elebert, Easton, Mensing, Neil, McArthur, Thomas (Lyle 62), Offiong, Akins (Corcoran 62). Subs not used: Murdoch, Casement, Graham, Sorsa.

HEARTS: Kello, Jonsson, Zaliukas, Berra, Wallace, Kingston (Palazuelos 89), Stewart, Karipidis, Driver, Mole (Nade 73), Obua (Ksanavicius 77). Subs not used: Balogh, Mikoliunas, Nade, Cesnauskis, Thomson.