Hearts 1 Kilmarnock 0

Sep 16 2009 By Chris Roberts

KILMARNOCK managed to turn up at Tynecastle at the second time of asking only to see Andy Driver crash their hopes of victory in the capital.

The England Under-21 winger made his first start of the campaign after injury troubles and marked his comeback with a brilliant strike.

Driver had extra time to get close to his brilliant best after this fixture was postponed on Saturday when the Killie team bus got stuck in an M8 pile-up. And he used it to devastating effect with a goal that stunned Jim Jefferies' men.

The Killie boss had decided not to gamble on the fitness of his dangerman Kevin Kyle and left him on the bench. Jefferies did make changes, handing a debut to keeper Mark Brown and bringing back Jamie Hamill at the expense of Manuel Pascali.

Hearts manager Csaba Laszlo was also without his first-choice No.1 Janos Balogh, who couldn't shake off illness, and Marian Kello took his place.

There was a starting place for Ruben Palazuelos but Christian Nade and Ian Black were named as substitutes. Ghana midfielder Laryea Kingston was nowhere to be seen after his fallout with the boss.

Hearts looked liveliest early on but Conor Sammon gave them a scare when he launched a dipping right-foot drive over the top then Gavin Skelton headed Mehdi Taouil's cross well over.

The Jambos rearguard was caught napping again in the 22nd minute when Sammon was given far too much space but Kello saved his stinging blast at the second attempt.

Moments later at the opposite end, Brown did even better to block Suso Santana's 21-yard drive.

But there was nothing he could do to prevent Driver's wonderful strike in the 31st minute.

Fraser Wright had lost the ball in the Hearts half and Palazuelos broke upfield as Lee Wallace sprinted forward in support.

The Killie back-line still had chances to clear the danger but failed to do so and Driver smashed an unstoppable half-volley past the on-loan Celtic keeper. Brown was busy again three minutes before the break when he punched clear a 26-yard blast from Craig Thomson.

Killie blew a chance to level on the stroke of half-time when Sammon flicked on David Fernandez's throw but Craig Bryson somehow headed over from just five yards.

They came close again just after the restart when Fernandez brilliantly backheeled to Bryson but Kello pushed his effort on to the post and behind for a corner.

Brown then made the save of the match to prevent Hearts doubling their lead. Thomson fired a deep centre into an empty box but as Santana attempted to send his header back across Brown the keeper flung himself to his left to make a glorious stop.

Kyle replaced Fernandez in the 56th minute and there was relief in the home support when he headed Hay's cross wide from 10 yards when he really should have done better.

This really was a great advertisement for Scottish football with both teams threatening more goals.

Livewire Santana fired low past the far post and David Obua headed over then Kello pulled off a stunning stop from Wright.

Killie kept chasing the draw and Danny Invincibile should have levelled but blasted over from close range.

That meant Killie left the capital with an empty feeling for the second time in three days.

How They Rated Hearts: Kello 7, Thomson 7, Bouzid 6, Goncalves 6, Wallace 7, Palazuelos 7, Stewart 7, Santana 8, Glen 6 (Nade 74, 3) Obua 5, Driver 7 (Kucharski 90, 1): Subs not used: MacDonald, Black, Thomson, Novikovas, Stewart.

Kilmarnock: Brown 7, Clancy 6, Wright 6, Ford 6, Hay 4 (Owens 84, 2) Hamill 6, Bryson 6, Taouil 6, Sammon 7, Fernandez 6 (Kyle 55, 5) Skelton 5 (Invincible 61, 3): Subs not used: Bell, O'Leary, Flannigan, Kelly.

Referee: W Collum 5.

Taken from the Daily Record