Lazslo steers Hearts into pole position

The Tynecastle side yet again displayed a weakness in their backline's ability to cope with the long, high ball into the box without the services of their former captain – this time, though, they also proved that they can no longer be written off after going a goal behind.

Yet again they were first to concede when the Dons scored a well-worked opener through Darren Mackie but a leveller on the stroke of half-time and a much-improved second-half display saw the home side claim a victory which could have a huge bearing on the European places come the end of the season.

The victory saw Hearts move clear into third place in the SPL table and match-winner Driver believed the points were well deserved.

He also stressed that the manager deserves credit for the way he has brought the players together at Tynecastle.

He said: "To get two goals and the win was well deserved. The first thing that the manager did when he came to the club was to get everyone together and he has got everyone working for one another and fighting for one another.

"He has got us all going in the right direction and, at the moment, he is just trying to fine tune everything. The boys all like him and he is the type of person that you all want to do well for.

"His man-management style suits everyone. We won on Saturday so he gave us a couple of days off – if you do it for him them he will give you a bit back.

"When you go into the changing room now there is a bit of banter, everyone looks forward to it. You want to go to work, it is a happier environment and you go in to speak to your mates.

"Last year, you went into training and you couldn't wait to get back out.

"You tend to want to improve yourself more if you are enjoying it. You want to stay later and work on things. His style is to take you to one side and have a word in your ear if you need to improve on something and everyone is thriving on that.

"We're not doing anything out of the ordinary but he will sometimes take a couple of players after training for an extra 20 minutes or half hour to work on things he feels need improved."

The manager's lengthy press conferences have become a source of amusement since his arrival in Edinburgh and Driver revealed that the manager also loves to talk in the dressing-room, on the training pitch and anywhere else that takes his fancy, laughing: "He gets a bit carried away with himself sometimes. Last week, we were supposed to be training at half past ten but we were still sitting there at quarter past 11 talking about Africa! But that's the kind of thing that he does."

However, Driver believes that the manager's fondness for a bit of speech therapy can only continue to help the players: "He likes to come in and talk about life and see the feedback from the players.

"I think it is his way of working out the mood in the camp. If the players are unhappy he will find that out from speaking to the lads. It's the way to sort things out really, to talk about your problems." The Jambos had a glorious chance to open the scoring inside the first 15 minutes when Robbie Neilson launched a high ball into the box and Nade managed to get a touch on it but couldn't control enough to take it away from Jamie Langfield, the Aberdeen keeper stretching to tip it away.

Although the game was flowing from end to end at pace, neither side was capable of stringing enough accurate passes together to create any real opportunities in front of goal.

However, the Dons showed how it should be done when they moved in front with a well-worked goal but it was also a strike which highlighted Hearts' weakness with the long, high ball. Charlie Mulgrew was the creator, sweeping a long ball from the left to the far side of the box and Mackie was there to lash it beyond Janos Balogh.

The Tynecastle side had a glimpse of goal a few minutes later when Lee Wallace managed to get the ball into the danger area where Gary Glen gratefully received the pass, but Langfield was equal to it as Glen spun round to get his shot in.

Balogh then rescued Hearts when Miller rattled in a powerful effort from just eight yards out. It was struck sweetly but the Tynecastle keeper did well to block and Zander Diamond couldn't keep his effort from the rebound on target.

David Obua then came close with five minutes of the first half remaining when he retained possession well and managed to thunder a shot in from the edge of the box but again, Langfield was proving difficult to beat and was up well at his right-hand corner to claim it.

Hearts levelled matters in injury time at the end of the first half, though, and it came at the end of some inventive play involving Michael Stewart and Bruno Aguiar. The Portuguese pushed the move forward with a wonderful ball to Obua, who headed the ball back from the byline and into Nade, who this time left the Dons keeper with no hope with a header.

The visitors should have been reduced to ten men after 65 minutes when Richie Foster slid in with two feet, late and heavy on Nade but Charlie Richmond somehow decided that the challenge merited only a yellow.

Hearts turned the game on its head with just under 20 minutes remaining when the referee played the advantage allowing Obua to get a ball deep to the back post and Driver was there is head the ball down and into the net. Aberdeen boss Jimmy Calderwood was disappointed not to take anything from the game and felt that his side could have had the points tied up if only they had managed to hold out until half-time.

"I thought we passed them off the park for a while and got a wonderful goal, it was a goal fit to win any game but after that we turned off. Our passing was sloppy after going ahead.

"They got a goal 30 seconds before the break and that gave the whole stadium a lift. It had been very quiet before that, which is very strange for Tynecastle. Their players took a massive lift from that, guys like Michael Stewart and Bruno Aguiar really came onto a game and, to be honest, we were really struggling.

"They were in the ascendancy, although I thought that we were still defending well. But then we gave a stupid, stupid goal away.

"We went 2-4-4 in towards the end of the game and we threw everything at them. If we had gone in 1-0 up at half-time it would have been a completely different Tynecastle.

"I think that a draw would have been a fairer result."

Calderwood became embroiled in a war of words with Hearts No.2 Werner Berger during the second half, the Aberdeen boss claiming that he had grown fed up with challenges to referee Charlie Richmond's decisions.

The whistler hadn't done himself any favours, showing Foster only a yellow card when it could easily have been a red after his shocking challenge on Nade. The tackle – and the colour of the card – infuriated the Jambos dug-out but Calderwood added: "We all like to challenge decisions, but when you're challenging 100 out of 100 then it starts to get on your nerves.

"I like to challenge as well, maybe five out of every ten or 50 out of 100, but never 100 out of 100. He was challenging every single one and I was starting to get a sore left ear."

Taken from the Scotsman