Composed win puts Hearts on solid footing for Spurs test

In both of those games Hearts had been second best organisationally, in footballing terms, and when it came to finishing.

On Saturday, for all that their Portuguese boss was exasperated at times by their inability to carry out his orders, they were coherent, played decent football, and took their chances.

Anxiety could have crept in to Hearts' play had Aberdeen midfielder Kari Arnason scored with an early header instead of knocking it off the crossbar. But, having enjoyed a spot of good luck then, they gradually took command of the game, and never looked in danger of losing once they had opened the scoring. They did so through Arvydas Novikovas, a fragile talent who is often too easily dispossessed, but who also displays a lovely touch at times. Danny Grainger's cross from the left scuffed off the head of Youl Mawene into the path of Novikovas, and the winger cut inside before curling a left-foot shot beyond the unsighted David Gonzalez into the far corner of the net. Having gained confidence from the goal, Novikovas might have gone on to torment the Aberdeen defence, but he needed treatment for an ankle knock towards half-time and failed to reappear for the second half. By then, however, Hearts were two up, the damage this time having been done by their other winger, David Templeton.

Played into the box by Ryan Stevenson, Templeton all too easily skipped round Rory McArdle, and from the byeline cut back a low cross which John Sutton tapped in for his first goal since moving from Motherwell. Neat footwork from the winger had been the key to the goal, but Aberdeen looked dreadfully static when the ball came through from the left, with no-one even bothering to track Sutton.

A lot has changed at Pittodrie since the end of last year, but, at least at that second goal, this Aberdeen side displayed an ineptitude identical to the one they had shown at Tynecastle last December, when they lost 5-0 in the brief interregnum between Mark McGhee's sacking and Craig Brown's taking over as manager.

Hearts are not the force they were then, and Brown's team have more going for them than McGhee's, as they showed in the second half. In midfield, for example, Rob Milson rivalled Adrian Mrowiec as the most effective performer, and Arnason and Isaac Osbourne also stood up well throughout, the latter at one stage winning three 50-50 balls in quick succession.

But it does not matter how good your midfield is if your defence cannot keep goals out and your attack cannot score them, and Aberdeen can be thankful that a third goal early in the second half led to a slackening of the pace from Hearts.

Sutton was again the scorer, and static defence again played its part, as the former Motherwell man was allowed to run on to a through ball from Scott Robinson and poke it first-time past Gonzalez.

With almost 40 minutes still to play, the match was over. Brown claimed afterwards that but for the goals it had been an even game, and certainly his team had the bulk of the possession and chances in the second half, but that was only because Hearts could afford to sit back.

And had Aberdeen got a goal back, as they should have done through a Fraser Fyvie shot not long after Sutton's second, the home team would have pressed forward again and would surely have exposed more defensive inadequacies.

"We're ready to go on a run," Brown also said, a remark which sounded like it was produced by wishful thinking rather than by the vast stores of footballing knowledge which the veteran manager undeniably possesses.

Maybe they are - but first they will have to end the run they are already on, which now stands at four league games without a goal.

Taken from the Scotsman