Dundee United 3 - 0 Hearts

Hearts were the unsuspecting victims of a remarkable re-awakening. The only question left hanging in the air after a one-sided epic at Tannadice was: why Dundee United's delay in starting their season?

Craig Levein, as ever, was prepared with the answer. "I would have looked a bit silly if we hadn't won because I had been telling everybody how difficult a start it would be and how they would see different results playing at home."

To recap, the Clydesdale Bank Premier League's fixtures computer (think of it as a Commodore 64 without the memory capacity) decided United would play four of their opening six games away from home. Charitably, the last road trip was a gimme' win against Aberdeen at Pittodrie.
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Their return to Tannadice was a vindication of the almost universal prediction among pundits and punters that Levein's side would be a smart bet for third place at the end of the season.

Ironically, that position is currently occupied by Hearts. Saturday was a symbolic victory, then, and an overdue statement of intent. It is difficult to gauge the impact that nearly two weeks without wages had on Hearts.

Csaba Laszlo, the irrepressible gab in charge these days, would have chuntered on all night given the chance but in one moment of clarity, he removed the club's financial concerns as a legitimate excuse for a bankrupt display. "When the ball is in the air and you need to win a header, you do not think about wages," he said, almost profoundly for a Saturday night in a converted canteen.

Hearts never threatened the outcome of the game. Lucasz Zaluska, the Dundee United goalkeeper, stood soaking on his goalline as though his pointless being was a form of punishment. He will qualify for his third bonus in a week all the same. At the other end, Marian Kello deserved an additional payment just for keeping the score respectable. The Lithuanian is an eccentric and a throwback to the days when goalkeepers wore gloves and not punchers' mitts.

His enthusiasm for flying out from his line at every cross will haunt him one day. In the meantime, it is a sight to behold.

In an overworked afternoon, he saved expertly at the feet of Sean Dillon, after Lee Wallace passed straight to his opposing full-back, tipped a magnificent back-header from Willo Flood over the bar, and was saved by his post and crossbar when John Daly and Morgaro Gomis breached a flimsy defence.

The entirety of United's midfield quartet were inspirational. None more so than Craig Conway. The left-sided creator scored a magical free-kick from 25 yards after being crudely chopped down by Michael Stewart. He assisted with the final blow and was the victim of Eggert Jonsson's second bookable offence.

He played in direct opposition to Hearts' key influence, Laryea Kingston, which explains why the Ghanaian internationalist has rarely been so anonymous.

Hearts played in their Ajax-style away jerseys but it was the Arabs in Oranje who gave the most convincing impersonation of the Dutch masters. Gomis shoved neat and incisive passes inside Hearts' full-backs all day, Flood was back to his voracious best after recovering from a hamstring injury and Scott Robertson, scorer of United's second goal, was simply sublime.

"I tried to sign him for Hearts when he was a 17-year-old and again at Leicester," Levein revealed of his obsessive pursuit of the player nicked from across the road at Dens Park. "I'm thankful I finally managed to sign him because he is an even better player than I thought he was. He has been excellent in every game this season."

It took 38 minutes for United to fashion tangible evidence of their exclusive possession. It was worth the wait. Stewart, enduring one of his dark days, was booked for a lazy foul on Conway.

The midfielder dusted himself down and dispatched a beautiful free-kick into the top right-hand corner of Kello's goal. Daly was given the freedom of the penalty area to double United's lead and the new dad - whose wife endured a 36-hour labour - indulged in a Bebeto-style rock-the-cradle celebration with his team-mates.

Robertson's header rounded off a rejuvenating afternoon for United. Inverness Caledonian Thistle are next in line for United's home treatment.

Taken from the Herald