Kevin Kyle bullies brittle Dons

Hearts 1

Kyle 46
There are steam rollers that are faster than Kevin Kyle. Yet few players in Scotland are more effective at what they do. He may not be a thoroughbred, but there are no more valuable one-trick ponies in the SPL.

Yesterday, in a testy and at times b ad-tempered encounter, it was his headed goal that was the difference. It came less than a minute after the restart, when Rudi Skacel pinged the ball crossfield to Calum Elliot on the right wing. The Hearts striker curled a lovely ball into the area, just inches over Zander Diamond's head and right into Kyle's path. The big man doesn't miss from six feet out, especially when he was as wound up as he was yesterday after his marker had, he says, tried to get him sent off.

"I came across Zander Diamond and won a header, and he went down screaming and started crying like a big baby. He tried to get me sent off," said Kyle afterwards, before adding that he offered to give Diamond "something to cry about" in the tunnel as the players left the field at half-time.

"What's the matter with him?" said Kyle. "This isn't the first time. He's always like this, and I've never reacted before, but I've never been more angry with anyone than I was over that. I was just aggressive, and if you can't handle that don't play football. It's the sort of thing you get in every game in England, but not up here, so the referees give foul after foul. Anyway, there's no better way to shut up people like that than to put the ball in the net, so that's what I did."

At Kilmarnock, Jim Jefferies fashioned his side around Kyle, and he's done much the same with a Hearts side that now plays a lumpen but energetic brand of route-one football that will win matches but few plaudits. There were some nice touches from the likes of Suso Santana, but mostly there was a physicality that Aberdeen struggled to contain. The talismanic Kyle was his usual assertive self, roving across the back four and giving Diamond and Andrew Considine a torrid time whenever Hearts pumped the ball long in his direction, which was pretty much every time they got the ball.

Aberdeen's back four have been shaky all season, and at times yesterday they were in disarray. By the end of the game, with Hearts in the ascendant and with Aberdeen doing little more than hanging on, there were periods when the crosses flew in and Kyle seemed to rise completely unchallenged by Diamond.

Five times during the second half, the target man rose to meet crosses from the right wing, or from corners on the right, and each time it seemed he might score, with one header going inches over and another cleared off the line at the back post.
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Hearts' abrasive and direct style of play didn't make for a pretty game, and referee's Mike Tumity's struggle to maintain order led to seven yellow cards, with Darren Barr, Rudi Skacel, Kyle and Adrian Mrowiec all going in the book for Hearts, followed by Diamond, young substitute Ryan Fraser and Maguire for the home side. Notwithstanding his run-in with Diamond, Kyle could easily have seen red just before half-time when he took Mark Howard's legs from under him as he leapt for the ball, the Dons keeper landing on his head and being forced to leave the field ten minutes into the second half with blurred vision.

If Hearts were occasionally brutish, at least they knew exactly what they were trying to achieve. By contrast, Aberdeen seemed almost entirely bereft of ideas or drive, especially after they went behind. Even before the break when honours were still fairly even and Sone Aluko had provided occasional moments of inspiration, especially when he linked with Maguire, Hearts still looked supremely composed at the back as they stopped their hosts fashioning one clear chance. Much of the credit for that should go to the return of Marius Zaliukas, who was superb on his return to action after a contractual dispute which manager Jim Jefferies hopes will be finally solved by the end of this week.

As a contented Jefferies said afterwards, Hearts shaded the first half but could have won by two or three more goals after Kyle broke the deadlock immediately after the break. That, however, wasn't an assessment that Aberdeen manager Mark McGhee accepted.

"It was fairly close," he said. "There was always going to be just one goal in it, and unfortunately they got it. But generally speaking I thought we did well. Our season hasn't started yet, but we can only improve from here. I'm excited about the potential for this team to do well this season."

Quite whether that excitement is shared by Aberdeen's fans, who have seen their side pick up just one point from the last 18 on offer, is another question altogether.

ABERDEEN

Howard (50)
Jack
Diamond
Considine
McArdle
Maguire (81)
Hartley
Folly
Aluko
Vernon
Velicka (57)

Subs used
Langfield (50)
Mackie (57)
Fraser (81)

HEARTS

Kello
Barr
Bouzid
Zaliukas
Palazuelos
Santana (81)
Mrowiec
Jonsson
Skacel (92)
C Elliot
Kyle

Subs used

S Elliott (81)
R Stevenson (92)

MAN OF THE MATCH

Kevin Kyle (Hearts)

Scored the winner and dominated this match.

TALKING POINT

What did Aberdeen assistant manager Scott Leach say to the fourth official to get himself sent to the stand?

Referee: M Tumilty. Attendance: 8,999

Taken from the Scotsman