Hearts 0-5 Tottenham Hotspur

Hearts crashed to a 5-0 defeat at the hands of Tottenham Hotspur in tonight's glamour Europa League Playoff first leg at Tynecastle.

The Barclays Premier League side proved to be a class above the Jambos as the men in maroon went down to goals from Rafael van der Vaart, Jermain Defoe, Jake Livermore, Gareth Bale and Aaron Lennon.

Manager Paulo Sergio made three changes to the side that defeated Aberdeen 3-0 at home last Saturday. Andrew Driver and Andrew Webster made the starting line up along with Ian Black which meant Eggert Jonsson and Arvydas Novikovas dropped to the bench while Scott Robinson failed a late fitness test and missed out altogether.

The game started at breakneck speed, and it was the away side that caught a large slice of luck after only four minutes when a blocked shot took a ricochet off Marius Zaliukas just inside the box and fell into the path of van der Vaart, who calmly slotted the ball past the despairing Marian Kello.

And it was Spurs who got the next goal as well. On twelve minutes Lennon darted inside and played a neat ball through to Defoe, the England hitman took a touch into the box then drilled the ball past Kello and into the corner of the net.

Hearts struggled to get a hold of the game, as Bale struck a trademark stinging left foot drive on twenty minutes, his effort from the edge of the box narrowly cleared the crossbar by a matter of inches.

The night didn't get any better for the Gorgie men as Spurs extended their lead to three before half an hour had been played. Livermore played a pin-point one-two with Defoe and the young Englishman drove the ball home from almost bang on the centre spot.

It took until the 37th minute but the Jambos finally threatened the Spurs goal. Ryan Stevenson picked up a loose ball thirty yards out and carried it forward to the edge of the box before unleashing a fierce drive that flew only a couple of yards past Heurelho Gomes' left hand post.

Hearts came flying out of the traps at the start of the second half. Three corners in a row saw consecutive goal mouth scrambles, Zaliukas and Webster were particularly unlucky not to force the ball over the line, then Driver took the ball down on the right and struck a magnificent shot which Gomes did well to get down to and turn over the bar.

Like a team on a mission, the Jambos continued to press their opponents. With 53 minutes gone David Templeton showed great tenacity to dispose Kyle Walker and then proceeded to dance his way into the box where he had the ball pinched from his foot just as he was about to pull the trigger.

This provoked an instant response from Spurs as substitute Tom Huddleston played a one-two with Defoe which took him deep into the Hearts box, his snapshot was smartly saved by Kello.

A minute later and confusion struck the home defence as they thought a long Huddlestone ball left Bale offside inside the box. The referee thought otherwise and allowed play to continue, which left Bale with the simplest task off rounding Kello and stroking the ball into an empty net.

Paulo Sergio attempted to shake things up in attack by introducing Stephen Elliott and Rudi Skacel to the field of play, making way was Driver and John Sutton.

It was Elliott who was next to have an effort on goal, when he drilled in a shot on 77 minutes which Gomes had to get down to quickly to push round the post.

Spurs then immediately broke from the resultant corner, Defoe carried the ball down the left flank before sending over an inviting cross which Lennon got on the end of to tap in the away side's fifth goal of the night.

That proved to be the last bit of meaningful play in the match, as the game finished 5-0 to the visitors. Hearts now face mission impossible in the return leg at White Hart Lane in a week's time.

Hearts: Kello; Hamill, Zaliukas, Webster, Grainger; Templeton, Black, Mrowiec (Obua, 80), Driver (Elliott, 63), Stevenson; Sutton (Skacel, 73). Subs not used: MacDonald, McGowan, Novikovas, Jonsson.

Tottenham: Gomes; Walker, Kaboul, Dawson, Assou-Ekotto; Lennon, Kranjcar, Livermore, Bale (Townsend, 69), Van der Vaart (Huddlestone, 54) Defoe (Pavlychenko, 78). Subs not used: Friedel, Bassong, Corluka, Cudicini.

Referee: Paolo Tagliavento

Top Man: Ryan Stevenson

Hearts World