Visitors rebuild some self-respect

Published Date: 22 August 2011
By Stuart Bathgate
at Rugby Park
AFTER the trauma inflicted on them by Tottenham Hotspur, Hearts and their beleaguered manager Paulo Sergio needed a solid performance, and they got it with a determined display against opponents who remain unbeaten in the SPL.
Five points from five games is some way short of being the start to the season the Tynecastle side would have hoped for, but this draw at least restored some of their self-respect after the harsh footballing lesson they were given by their English opponents in the Europa League.

And, while Sergio and his team must still feel some trepidation about Thursday's return leg, they have some grounds for optimism domestically as they look ahead to Sunday's Edinburgh derby. After all, this was the Kilmarnock team which put four goals past Hibernian a week earlier, cruelly exposing the Easter Road side's defensive shortcomings. They were dangerous at times against Hearts, but have to regard the point as a fair reward from a contest which could have gone either way.

For Sergio, the draw not only helped his team recover self-confidence, it must also have edged him closer to understanding what his best 11 is. The Portuguese boss rang the changes again here, bringing Scott Robinson in for the suspended Ian Black, replacing John Sutton with Stephen Elliott up front and playing David Obua instead of David Templeton.

Obua, who usually plays wide left, took a more central role, while Ryan Stevenson was on the right of midfield rather than up front. The new formation still looked disjointed at times, but at least there were enough bodies to stifle the opposition in the middle of the park, compared to the naivety shown in fielding two wingers in a midfield four against Spurs.

On a hot afternoon, much of the match was played at something close to walking pace. That was after a rapid opening, however, in which a sudden burst up the right by Paul Heffernan caught Hearts by surprise, and Adrian Mrowiec was booked for holding the Irishman back.

Kilmarnock looked threatening on the break down either flank, and there were times when the Hearts defence showed signs of the hesitancy which had been so costly against Spurs. Nonetheless, over the course of the first half it was the visitors who looked more likely to score, with the two best chances both falling to men in maroon jerseys.

First, after half an hour, Jamie Hamill sent in a free-kick from just outside the left of the penalty area. The flight of the ball deceived Cammy Bell, but the goalkeeper still got a strong enough hand to the delivery to divert it over the bar. Then, five minutes or so later, Andrew Driver crossed on the run from the left, and Elliott got in front of the defence to glance in a header which came back off the bar with Bell beaten.

Unsurprisingly given the events of Thursday night, Hearts looked nothing like as confident as they had been eight days earlier in their 3-0 win over Aberdeen. But they were at least playing with a sense of collective purpose and adhering to a discernible game plan, both of which they had failed to do in the first 45 minutes of their Europa League match.

Kilmarnock defender Ryan O'Leary failed to reappear for the second half after sustaining what is feared to be a cruciate injury, and he was replaced by midfielder James Fowler, with Manuel Pascali dropping back to centre-half. Manager Kenny Shiels changed his team's approach as well as personnel, getting them to play with greater urgency, but Hearts upped the tempo too, with the contest improving markedly as a result.

A goal would have produced an even more open game, and it should have come when Rory McKeown crossed from the left into space in the box after Pascali had played him through. But Gary Harkins mistimed his run slightly, and, not realising he had time to control the ball before shooting, took it on the half-volley and sent it over Marian Kello's bar.

At the other end, Bell was called on to produce two fine saves within seconds of each other after Hearts won a free-kick 25 yards out. The keeper could only parry Danny Grainger's fierce shot direct from the award, but recovered well to save Ryan Stevenson's first-time effort from the rebound.

With more space available, a game which had begun in soporific fashion was ending in rousing style as both teams went in search of a late winner. Elliott thought he had grabbed it seven minutes from time after turning in a mis-hit shot from substitute Rudi Skacel, but the flag was up for offside and Kilmarnock breathed again.

Kilmarnock: Bell, Buijs, O'Leary (Fowler 46), Ada, McKeown, Kelly, Pascali, Dayton, Shiels, Harkins (Galan 58), Hefferman. Subs not used: Jaakkola, Clancy, Hay, Racchi, Fisher.

Hearts: Kello, Hamill, Webster, Zaliukas, Grainger, Stevenson, Mrowiec, Obua, Robinson (Skacel 70), Driver (Templeton 53), Elliott (Sutton 86). Subs not used: MacDonald, Jonsson, Prychynenko, Novikovas.

Taken from the Scotsman