By Andy Campbell

Andrew Driver's stylish right-foot volley put the home side ahead just after the half-hour mark.

David Fernandez and Craig Bryson missed decent chances to level before Kilmarnock keeper Mark Brown made an impressive block to deny Suso Santana.

Marion Kello made a crucial save to prevent Frazer Wright equalising and Kevin Kyle also threatened for Killie.

This fixture had to be moved to midweek after the original game was postponed due to major traffic problems on Saturday.

And it was the visitors who made the early running with Conor Sammon and Gavin Skelton sending efforts off target.

At the other end, Suso stung the palms of Brown, who was making his first appearance since joining Killie on loan from Celtic.

Driver, making his return to the Hearts starting line-up, broke the deadlock in the 31st minute with a stunning strike at the end of a breakaway attack.

Kilmarnock struggled to clear their lines and Driver picked up a loose ball on the edge of the box and swerved a superb shot into the top corner.

Hearts were beginning to find their rhythm and Lee Wallace's cross was glanced wide by Gary Glen.

Craig Thomson then drew a save from Brown with a fizzing drive before Driver had the ball in the net again only to be penalised for a foul on Mehdi Taouil.

Fernandez should have equalised for Killie in first-half injury time when he contrived to head over from point-blank range after Sammon had flicked on a long throw.
Hearts midfielder Andrew Driver
Driver marked his return to the Hearts team with an excellent goal

The home side's lead looked fragile again at the start of the second half as Fernandez's back-heel created space for Bryson but the midfielder's low shot was pushed onto the post and wide by Kello, who was starting in place of illness victim Janos Balogh.

Sammon then miscued after getting behind the Hearts defence.

Hearts went back on the offensive and Thomson's excellent back-post cross was headed towards goal by Suso only for Brown to make a terrific save.

Kyle came on for Fernandez and the tall striker headed narrowly wide from Garry Hay's free-kick before Suso and missed the target at the end of a meandering run.

The Ayrshire side finished the match strongly and Wright's goal-bound header was clawed to safety by Kello, who collided with the post in the process.

A long ball by Taouil then put Kyle in on goal but the substitute fired into the side-netting.

And Kyle was at the heart of Kilmarnock's last clear chance of the game as he chested the ball down to his team-mates but Sammon and substitute Danny Invincibile appeared to get in each other's way as the latter fired over to keep Hearts' lead intact.

Hearts manager Csaba Laszlo:
"We played attacking football.

"It was a very important three points.

"It was a fantastic goal. Andrew Driver was very active up front with Suso, David Obua and Gary Glen.

"The most important thing is to enjoy this evening with the first win and we look forward."

Kilmarnock manager Jim Jefferies:
"As the game wore on, we got more and more at them, we took chances driving forward.

"We created some good chances and Kevin Kyle was a handful for them when he came on.

"On chances, we had probably more chances in and around the area than they had. If they had the chances we had, they would've probably stuck them away.

"We never gave in, we applied ourselves well but we just never took our chances."

Taken from the BBC