Hearts 0-3 Kilmarnock

Alan Cochrane @ Tynecastle Stadium

Once again, Tynecastle proved a happy hunting ground for Killie, as the visitors plundered all three points from Hearts for the third time this season, and eased ourselves further into the top six in the league. And just as Cillian Sheridan scored three goals on Killie's last visit to Gorgie, this time it was Paul Heffernan who took the ball home, after an impressive display of the strikers' art.

Hearts already had injury problems in defence, with experienced players like Marius Zaliukas missing, and that was exacerbated when Darren Barr and Danny Wilson had an accidental clash of heads after half an hour, which resulted in Barr being stretchered off to be replaced by Dylan McGowan, and Wilson coming back after some needlework and bandaging in the treatment room. For the visitors, Manuel Pascali in particular was in imperious form, as he marked Michael Ngoo out of the game, but it was apparent from the start that the whole Killie team was up for the game.

While Hearts had problems getting the ball out of their own half due to Kilmarnock's continual pressing, Kilmarnock, raiding down both wings, always looked the more dangerous. They were rewarded before the interval when William Gros crossed a long ball to James Dayton on the left wing, he took a touch for control, then drilled a perfect cross behind the Hearts defence for Heffernan to prod into the net from a couple of yards.

Hearts worked hard for 15 minutes after the restart to try to get back on terms, but again Killie broke out regularly, and MacDonald had to look sharp to save from Dayton. Kilmarnock grabbed their second in 64 minutes when Heffernan pounced on a headed ball in the box, swivelled, and smacked the ball past the Hearts keeper to double Kilmarnock's lead.

With 20 minutes left, the same player sealed the deal. He let a diagonal ball run between his legs to Borja who cut in on goal and shot. MacDonald made a good save diving to his right but could only parry the ball out, and Heffernan was following up to thump in his, and Kilmarnock's, third.

As I finished speaking with Paul after the game, and suggesting he might be showing the match ball to Cillian Sheridan on Monday, his phone rang, and a big grin broke out on the Dublinner's face. "That's Cillian now", he said, as walked off jauntily towards the coach back to the west. You can hear his thoughts, and those of Kenny Shiels, at www.kicktalk.co.uk.

Hearts: MacDonald, Wilson, Barr (McGowan), Webster, Robinson, Walker, Holt (Sutton), Ngoo, Tapping, Mullen, King (Novikovas)

Kilmarnock: Bell, Tesselaar, Clingan (McKenzie), Fowler, Gros, Dayton (Racchi), Heffernan, Perez, Barbour, Pascali (O'Leary), Sissoko

Referee: Craig Thomson