Rudi Skacel treble eases Jim Jefferies' men past toothless visitors

It was a solid performance all round from Jim Jefferies' team, who have a more settled look to them now that Marius Zaliukas has been restored to the heart of their defence. "He was immense," the manager said of the centre-half. "He was outstanding, he's a leader and that's why we made him captain."

Zaliukas has been on loan at Tynecastle since the summer of 2006 from FBK Kaunas - owned by Hearts majority shareholder Vladimir Romanov - with the agreement set to expire at the end of December.

A reluctance on the player's part to commit his future to the club saw him frozen out of first-team action on Romanov's instructions, but Hearts now have two wins and two clean sheets since his return.

Zaliukas played in last weekend's 1-0 win at Aberdeen and his appearance at Tynecastle on Saturday suggested an end to the contract impasse which has seen him out of the team in recent weeks.

Jefferies certainly believes a resolution with Romanov has been reached and that the Lithuania internationalist's presence has boosted the whole squad.

"We're glad it was sorted out and you can see the difference in the last two games with a couple of clean sheets," said Jefferies. "When he's like that the others follow on and we're a lot more solid."

Skacel netted after two minutes and added a second with a curling free-kick after 24 minutes. He then had to wait until stoppage time of an otherwise forgettable second half to round off his hat-trick with a right-foot finish.

"We've got this monkey off our back of having not won at home," added Jefferies. "This is a hard league to pick up points, sometimes you have to grind them out."

Jefferies has called on Hearts to carry the momentum from their recent results into next week's clash with Kilmarnock and the following weekend's Edinburgh derby with Hibernian. "We've got to go on from here," said the Hearts manager.

"We've got to get another three points on the board and that will set us up nicely for the week after (at Hibs)."

St Mirren remain rooted to the foot of the table and without a point from five away fixtures after their sixth loss of the season. With one point out of a possible 18 from the last six games, assistant manager Iain Jenkins is looking for Saints to show character and work hard to arrest the poor run.

"Winning becomes a habit and losing becomes a habit," said Jenkins. "You can't shy away from it, you've got to stand up and be counted and that's what we're going to continue to do week-in, week-out and hopefully we can turn this corner.

"We'll be working hard in training this week and until we get it right."

Skacel's second-minute opener set the tone of the afternoon for Saints, who granted the Czech Republic midfielder too much time and space too often.

"We asked the team to press, we did so, but not as aggressively as we would've liked," added Jenkins.

"You're not going to come away from home and be handed it on a plate. You've got to work hard, it's a must.

"The quicker as a unit we all work together and start doing something about it the better or we're going to find it a tough season."

Taken from the Scotsman