No joy as Hearts downed at Motherwell

For Hearts this will be a game to forget, nothing went right for the Jambos and they struggled to play any football as they lost 3-1 to Motherwell at Fir Park.

The match saw three players return from injury and suspension with Kucharski, Jonsson and Kingston all coming back into the starting line-up following last week's defeat to Dundee Utd.

The game started badly for Hearts when Motherwell scored a minute after kick-off. They won an early corner which Tom Hateley took short, the ball was swung in to the head off Mark Reynolds who placed the ball past Balogh to open the scoring.

Hearts struggled to find any rhythm to the match and the pitch didn't help, a lot has been said of the Fir Park pitch of late, but it really wasn't in great condition

Though both teams were playing on the same pitch and Motherwell were putting together more of the attacking play. This paid off for them in the 13th minute when they doubled their lead. Keith Lasley played a ball in from the left; it went straight across the box to the feet of John Sutton who smashed the ball into the net.

Hearts won a free kick in the 18th minute, Larry Kingston played an excellent ball into the box but nobody was on the other end of it.

Although Motherwell were defending their two-nil lead they were still attacking on the break away, and Hearts were lucky not to be caught out in the 41st minute. A long ball was passed to John Sutton, he then switched it to the left and the cross in was cleared away for a corner.

A minute later Hearts put together good attacking play with the ball working it's way to Larry down the left, he crossed in for the head of Stevenson but Well keeper John Ruddy was quick off his line and snatched the ball out of the air.

Hearts made a change at the start of the second half with Gary Glen replacing Calum Elliot, which may have been due to an injury Calum appeared to get in the first half.

The Jambos started the second half brightly and pushed forward, trying to create chances in front of goal. Manager Jim Jefferies wanted to change things around and brough off Ryan Stevenson and Paul Mulrooney, replacing them with David Templeton and Suso Santana.

Although Motherwell had a two goal advantage they were still creating chances in front of Hearts goal, mainly on the counter attack. Jamie Murphy had a shot panned away by Balogh for a corner; it was a good save from the Hearts keeper as the defence were struggling to get back.

Hearts had not yet had a shot on target in the match and this didn't change when a long range effort from Gary Glen was hit over the bar.

Motherwell thought they had scored a third in the 66th minute when Lukas Jutkiewicz put the ball in the net following a save from Balogh but the Motherwell striker was off-side.

Unfortunately for Hearts it wasn't long before Motherwell had the ball in the back of the net for a third time. Jamie Murphy played a ball across the box which found its way to Jim O'Brien at the back post who blasted the ball into the net.

It looked all over for the Jambos but substitute David Templeton got a goal back within a minute. The youngster got space in the 18 yard box and placed a brilliant shot past Ruddy to give Hearts a glimmer of hope. The Hearts fans that made the journey through were obviously pleased with this and chants of 'easy, easy' could be heard from the travelling support!

Hearts were struggling to put passes together and the pitch did not allow them to play football. They were still trying to attack the Motherwell goal but the game was over for the Jambos long before this point in the match. There won't be much they can take from this match, as hard as they wroked things just weren't going right for the Jambos at Fir Park

Motherwell: Ruddy; Hatley, Craigan, Reynolds, Hammell' O'Brien, Lasley, Jennings; Sutton, Murphy, Jutkiewicz. Subs not used: Fraser, Coke, Humphrey, McGlinchey, Forbes, McHugh, Saunders

Hearts: Balogh; Thomson, Kucharski, Goncalves, Wallace; Kingston, Stevenson (Templeton ,51), Jonsson, Mulrooney(Santana, 51), Obua, Elliot (Glen, 45). Subs not used: MacDonald, Novikovas,Smith, D McGowan.

Referee: Stephen Finnie

Top man: Larry Kingston

Hearts World