Jambos show clinical side at Accies

In the same way assassins clinically dispense with their victims, Hearts showed a ruthlessness to prise three points from this affair. They cared not that Hamilton are propping up the SPL, or that 17-year-old Ziggy Gordon was making his home debut at right-back. His inexperience was pinpointed as a potential weak point which Lee Wallace exploited throughout the first half. The teenager was then replaced at the interval.

Hamilton, it must be said, played straight into Hearts' hands with a five-man defensive line-up from kick-off which invited their visitors to press and probe. Nonetheless, they still had to be killed off. Step forward Stephen Elliott.

The striker produced a stunningly accurate header from Wallace's cross to open the scoring on 22 minutes. Then, seconds after half-time, he enjoyed a fortuitous moment when Marius Zaliukas' header ricocheted into the net off his thigh. Irish double cream, one might say.

"The way they set up, they tried to make it really difficult for us to break them down," said Elliott. "We had a lot of possession early doors and it was important to get that first goal. When it did come it settled us down a bit.

"Playing up front it can be frustrating (in that situation], you feel the ball is moving sideways and you need to try and create space. You need to be patient and, when the chance comes, you need to take it. The formation that the manager has been playing has been quite successful for us. Whoever has been playing has done well.

"I was happy to be able to play through the middle and I got my rewards. I could have had a hat-trick but the keeper saved my shot in the second half, so it wasn't to be. Two will do for me. At half-time we looked comfortable but the manager said it was important to get the second goal. It's always dangerous at 1-0. We did that straight away which was brilliant. We knew Hamilton's confidence was going to be low but we did a professional job."

Such was the despondency around New Douglas Park that home supporters roundly jeered their team from the pitch at half-time, prompting a gesture from defender David Elebert in protest at the criticism.

Hearts had monopolised possession throughout the first 45 minutes and in the process turned what was an important SPL match into something resembling a training exercise. That notably irked the natives.

Elliott's goal accorded his team a cushion
and they willingly stroked the ball around thereafter. In the away dressing-room, the half-time team talk centred around remaining stable but pressing for a vital second to kill the game completely. It arrived only seconds after the restart when Zaliukas met Rudi Skacel's corner and his header careered off Elliott's thigh and past the Hamilton goalkeeper Tomas Cerny.

Thereafter Hamilton rallied, spurred by the Paixao brothers climbing off the substitute's bench and some irritation at a lack of support from the home fans. "I don't think any team needs to be booed off at half-time" explained Elebert. "We need all the support we can get. We're bottom of the league but it's not for the lack of trying. Sometimes you don't play well but there is a spirit in the dressing room. Maybe the fans are loking for a bit more but we need everybody to get behind us.

"We were a lot better in the second half than the first. We tried to sit back and soak up pressure and hit them on the break but that didn't work. We set up not to lose with a back five but Hearts are a good side. We came out in the second half and said we were going to go for it. We changed formation and made some substitutions but the second goal killed us."

"I don't think I've ever been involved in a game like that in the Premier League," said Jim Jefferies, the Hearts manager. "Hamilton are short on confidence. They're trying to battle for every point but we had so much possession in that first half. It was important to get the first goal. If it was going to happen, it was going to come from us getting the ball wide and then back into the box. That's how we scored. It was a great cross and a great finish.

"We said to the players at half-time that if we get a second goal they will have to open up. We scored but then Hamilton stopped us getting all that possession because they changed it with some substitutions. That gave them more of the ball, they got it forward early and they competed. We got a bit sloppy in the last 20 minutes.

"Hamilton are low in confidence but you need to be professional enough to take advantage. I can understand Billy Reid playing that way because their confidence is down and they need results. But they came back, they denied us a lot more space in possession in the second half but not enough to trouble us."

After a most straightforward victory, the only question left needing answered was how did Andy Webster play after starting the first match of his second spell with Hearts. "Webster looked like he'd never been away," was Jefferies' assessment. "He was in the right position all the time and I think he only lost one header all day. You can see his quality on the ball because he never panics.

" It actually suited him the way they played because he got on the ball and started things off.

"I thought it was a really professional performance."

Taken from the Scotsman