Hearts 0 - 2 Kilmarnock

Two goals early in the second half gave Killie a terrific, and well-deserved, three points here at Tynecastle today, and just as they did on their last visit here in October, sent their noisy group of travelling supporters back to Ayrshire in jubilant mood. The only fly in the ointment today for Kilmarnock was a red card for Alexei Eremenko following a minor handbag skirmish 20 minutes before the end, of which, more later.

The first 45 minutes didn't bring a lot to get excited about. David Templeton, who was probably the brightest player on the pitch for that first half, hit the bar with a looping header, while at the other end, Pascali headed wide from a corner, with Marian Kello complaining loudly that he had been impeded. In fact he complained so loudly and for so long that he got a solemn dressing down from Mr McLean for his impudence. For Killie though, it was a solid defensive performance which Mixu said they had brought straight from the training ground, and if they had been a little profligate in attack, well better was to come.

The second half brought changes, and the Killie supporters were soon celebrating. An early Eremenko free kick was headed wide by Frazer Wright, but within four minutes of the restart, Kilmarnock were ahead. An attempted Hearts clearance fell to David Silva just inside the visitors half. He galloped off for goal, sidestepped a defender, and drilled the ball past Kello to give the visitors the lead. Another good Killie move involving Eremenko, Wright, Silva and Gros cut through Hearts, but the youngster's shot was too weak to trouble Kello in the Hearts goal. The same wasn't true of the next attack.

An intricate piece of interaction saw a ball moved from Eremenko to Gros to Silva, and when his cross was whipped in, there was Eremenko to lash a shot into the roof of the net. Gros almost made it three before we had played an hour when an Eremenko pass released the Frenchman to race towards goal, but although his 20 yard shot looked to have Kello beaten, the ball slipped the wrong side of the post. He also got a toe to a lob but couldn't quite get enough of the ball to trouble the Hearts keeper that time.

We had by now seen all the goals we were to see, but not all the action. A tussle between Zaliukas, Eremenko and the late arriving Templeton ended with Eremenko on his back, the two Hearts players getting shown yellow cards, and Eremenko heading for an early bath. The decision completely mystified Mixu Paatelainen, who said that if TV backs up his belief of what happened, Kilmarnock will appeal Steven McLean's decision. But that incident apart, the big Finn was overjoyed at how Killie had played today. They had taken all the training ground messages on board, played to the plan, and left Edinburgh with a superb result under their belt.