Super Stewart's seventh seals Steelmen victory

The last match of the decade at Tynecastle went out with a whimper rather than a bang but that won't bother the fans who turned up to see Hearts third straight win on the trot.

Hearts smothered Motherwell and in the end Michael Stewart's seventh of the season was enough to seal a valuable three points.

Csaba Laszlo made one change for the game against Motherwell with Suso Santana coming in for David Templeton who dropped to the bench.

Hearts and Motherwell both went into the match with 20 points in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League so a win would give either side the edge.

Both teams made attempts to attack in the first half, Motherwell had an early opportunity when a deceiving shot looked to be trickling past Kello's goal. The Slovakian managed to get his arm to it in time to push it past the right hand post.

Hearts too had an early opportunity when a powerful header from Jose Goncalves was cleared off the line by Steven Jennings. However what got most people talking was the weather, hail then snow began to swirl round Tynecastle and many of the players were probably wishing they'd opted for long sleeves and gloves in the bitter wintry conditions.

In the 20th minute Hearts had to make an early substitution due to injury, with Jamie Mole coming off to be replaced by Christian Nade. He almost made an instant impact on the game when he showed agility and pace to skip past two Motherwell players; unfortunately his final ball went wide of the Motherwell goal.

The next real chance of the match fell to the home side and again Christian Nade was in the thick of the action as he skipped past two Motherwell defenders, though his powerful shot was wide of the visitor's goal.

The deadlock was finally broken in the 38th minute with Christian Nade again involved in the action. The substitute fought for the ball in the box and managed to dig out a cut-back to the feet of Michael Stewart who slotted the ball home for his seventh goal of the season in all competitions to send Hearts into the break a goal up.

Hearts nearly doubled their lead early in the second half when Christian Nade chased a long ball down the left hand side and got a brilliant ball in low across the box to Santana. Unfortunately the Spaniard caught it awkwardly and the ball went over the bar.

The home side were struggling to hold their defence together and with Motherwell were looking for a goal they introduced John Sutton for Jamie Murphy in the 56th minute. The Steelmen nearly drew level in the six minutes later when a powerful header in from Steven Saunders forced Kello to dive low at his left hand post and push the ball out for a corner.

Motherwell continued to battle forward but it was Hearts fans who screamed for a penalty in the 85th minute when Scott Robinson was brought down. Referee Crawford Allan decided it was a free-kick right on the edge of the box, the right call. Christian Nade stepped up but his shot went wide of the target.

The visitors who continued to press and John Sutton and Lucas Jutkiewicz both had chances cleared. And a real chance fell for Craig Brown's new charges two minutes from time when Jutkiewicz put a powerful low ball into the box which was cleared by Bouzid - last gasp stuff.

The resulting corner led to a stramash in the Hearts box with Kello off his line making a double save before Goncalves headered clear for a corner.

Motherwell threw everything they had at Hearts to try and leave Tynecastle with at least a point. They won a free-kick on the edge of the Hearts box in added on time which Forbes dangerously whipped in, but Kello was alert to punch clear.

And that was that. Certainly not pretty but with one defeat in six games does anyone really care?

Hearts: Kello; Bouzid, Zaliukas, Goncalves, Wallace; Suso (Templeton, 72), Stewart, Jonsson, Palazuelos; Robinson (Kucharski 88), Mole (Nade, 20). Subs not used: Balogh, kieBlack, Visconte, Smith.

Motherwell: Ruddy, Hammel, Reynolds, Craigan, Saunders (McGarry, 76),Forbes, Hately,Jennings (Lasley 71), Murphy (Sutton, 56), O'Brien, Jutkiewicz. Subs not used: Fraser, Meechan, McHugh, Slane

Referee: Crawford Allan

Top man: Christian Nade

Hearts World