Hearts 0 Dundee United 1

By Alasdair Reid, Tynecastle

David Goodwillie seems almost certain to join Blackburn Rovers today but if Jon Daly can conjure more goals like the one he scored here then Dundee United fans may not be mourning the departure of their star player for very long.

Daly's 38th-minute header was helped by execrable Hearts defending, but it was beautifully taken goal and it gave United their first win of the season. Afterwards, Daly wished the departing Goodwillie good luck, but was bullish about United's prospects ahead. "We knew we could cope without him," he said.

Goodwillie's move to Lancashire comes after United chairman Stephen Thompson rejected a raised bid – worth around £2.2 million in total – from Rangers. Peter Houston, the United manager, confirmed that the deal with Blackburn is now almost complete, and praised Thompson's astuteness in holding out for the best offer he could get.

"Without a doubt, they've got a bargain," said Houston. "If David had been playing in the Championship, rather than the SPL, a Premier League club would have paid much more.

"But the SPL don't get a lot of money from English clubs, so if the chairman has got what he's looking for, it will help the football club.

"I don't know if he'll play every week in the Premier League, being totally honest. But David will become a Premier League player in due time."

Hearts might have expected the Goodwillie affair to have unsettled their opponents, but they only ever seemed to be in control of the match in the opening 10 minutes. In that period, the impression was that they were carrying the momentum and confidence of their away draws against Rangers and Paksi over the previous eight days, and they surged forward with bold self belief.

United, by contrast, looked like a side that had just been told their star player would be pursuing his future elsewhere. Yet having survived a few scares in their own goalmouth, they began to get the measure of their hosts. A game that had been all maroon up to that point took on a distinctly tangerine tint, and Willo Flood's forays down the right side began to set the tempo.

John Rankin also began to make his presence felt, tormenting the Hearts central defence with some wicked runs across the box. His trickery certainly addled the mind of Hearts' Adrian Mrowiec, whose clumsy 15th-minute challenge on Rankin near the edge of the box looked like a penalty to many in

that corner of the ground. Referee Brian Winter was not among them, although Rankin almost made his point when he rattled the free-kick against the bar.

Hearts bustled away in the central areas, but they were critically weak in both penalty boxes. Neither Stephen Elliott nor John Sutton could get on the end of the crosses that were whipped in towards them, while their midfield lacked the nous to engineer any other routes to goal.

Increasingly, it felt that United were the more likely to make a breakthrough. And so it proved, the critical goal arriving in the 38th minute, when a strightforward corner from Flood on the right side was met by the advancing Daly near the penalty spot. The timing was perfect, although Hearts' marking was execrable, and Daly could scarcely believe he had such an easy job with the header that rocketed ino the back of the net.

After the break, United's assurance only seemed to grow. Elliott had missed another sitter late in the first half and Hearts' efforts near the United goal looked no more convincing as the match wore on.

With their return match agaist Paksi looming, their distractions may have been more critical than the transfer complications around United right now.

Hearts' disgraced defender Craig Thomson has moved to FBK Kaunas until November, according to the Lithuanian club.

Kaunas are owned by Hearts' majority shareholder Vladmir Romanov, with the Edinburgh club having taken a number of players on loan from Lithuania since 2005.

Thomson however is heading in the opposite direction, having been told he had no future at the club following a charge of lewd and libidinous behaviour towards young girls, which saw him fined £4,000 and placed on the Sex Offenders Register.

In a statement on Kaunas' website, the club announced the arrival of the 20 year-old. "Our team has added right defender Craig Thomson. The new signing will be the first player from Scotland in Lithuania.

"Thomson is owned by Kaunas until the end of the season. He will wear the No 46 jersey."

Match details

Hearts (4-4-2): Kello; McGowan, Zaliukas, Jonsson, Grainger; Black, Mrowiec (Skacel 70), Obua, Templeton; Sutton (Stevenson 76), Elliott (Novikovas 70). Subs: MacDonald, Barr, Smith, Robinson. Booked: Grainger.

Dundee United (4—4-2): Pernis; Watson, Dillon, Kenneth, Dixon; Severin (Robertson 75), Allan (Douglas 82), Flood, Rankin; Russell, Daly. Subs: Banks, Armstrong, Mackay-Steven, Dow, Hilson. Booked: Flood.

Referee: B Winter.