Heart of Midlothian 0-4 Kilmarnock

(Boyd 12' & 48' Johnston 39' McKenzie 90')
From Hearts Media at Tynecastle.

Hearts slumped to a desperately disappointing defeat as a clinical Kilmarnock side led by Kris Boyd earned the away side a 4-0 win in today's Scottish Premiership encounter at Tynecastle.

A double from Boyd, and two fine solo efforts from Chris Johnston gave Killie a resounding victory, as they comprehensively defeated a young Jambos side clearly shorn of all confidence at the moment.

Gary Locke named an unchanged side from the team that competed well in last week's 2-0 defeat at Celtic Park, with youngster Adam King retaining his place in the heart of midfield.

The visitors started brightly, with Rory McKenzie beating Jamie Hamill inside the box within the first minute but his weak attempt was blocked. Then strong running from Kris Boyd set up Sean Clohessy, who cut inside Kevin McHattie but saw his effort blocked by Danny Wilson.

On 11 minutes, Kilmarnock took a deserved lead. Chris Johnston's initial corner failed to beat the first man, but his follow-up effort was true and landed squarely on Boyd's head, the striker having the easy task of nodding home from 4 yards out.

Three minutes later, it should have been two. Boyd turned brilliantly in the box to evade Brad McKay but Jamie MacDonald was equal to his effort.

Hearts tried to respond, with a long ball from defence evading Killie's defence and finding Callum Tapping, who carried the ball to the edge of the box and was unlucky to see his chipped effort land on the roof of the net.

The game was then hit with an unexpected delay as the far-side linesman ran down the tunnel with what appeared to be an ankle injury, causing a delay of around 6 minutes. Understandably, play was a bit muted thanks to the delay, but Kilmarnock continued to look dangerous, and deservedly scored a second on 40 minutes.

Johnston beat McGowan on the touch line and, using Brad McKay as a shield, curled a wonderful strike into the corner past MacDonald to send Killie in at the break with a two-goal advantage.

After the restart, the Jambos faced an onslaught. A long ball wasn't dealt with, McKenzie played a through-ball that was dummied by Johnston and finished clinically by Boyd to end the match as a contest.

Boyd then had two brilliant chances to claim his hat-trick, first as Sean Clohessy's low ball was missed by the defence but skied by the Scotland striker, then after a pass from McKenzie, Boyd skinned McKay but somehow missed the target again. To their credit, Hearts kept trying - mainly through the endeavour of Jamie Walker - but realistically were never getting back into the match as Kilmarnock were content with their lead.

Just as the game had whittled away to nothing, Rory McKenzie scored perhaps the goal of the game for the visitors, as his curling effort from distance flew in off the post to put an exclamation mark on a horror afternoon for Hearts before referee John Beaton called time on a missed opportunity for the Jambos to reach a positive points total for the season.

Hearts: MacDonald; Hamill, McKay, Wilson, McHattie; McGowan; A. King (Robinson, 46'), Tapping (Carrick, 83'); Smith (B. King, 46'), Paterson, Walker. Subs: Hamilton, McGhee, Nicholson.

Kilmarnock: Samson, Tesselaar, Irvine, Boyd (Muirhead, 80'), Johnston, Clohessy, McKenzie, Gardyne (Winchester, 74'), Slater, Pascali (McKweon, 76'), Ashcroft. Subs: Reguero, B. Nicholson, Clingan, Gros.

Referee: John Beaton

Top man: Callum Tapping

Hearts World