Hearts lifted in another great escape

WHATEVER else might be said about this Jekyll and Hyde performance from Hearts - and even their coach, Craig Levein, was bewildered by his side’s mood-swings at Rugby Park - no one would dispute the Edinburgh club’s resilience in the face of adversity.

For the second away match running (two weeks previously they’d grabbed a draw thanks to an injury-time equaliser at East End Park), Hearts came back from what appeared to be a hopeless position to salvage pride in performance as well as another precious point.

Trailing 3-1 with less than ten minutes of the match to play, not even the most fervent followers of the Gorgie club sitting in the stand behind Gordon Marshall’s goal would have expected Hearts to pull this iron out of the fire.

Although there wasn’t much to choose between the teams during a low key first-half when both sides struggled to keep their feet on a poor playing surface, Hearts sneaked an advantage thanks to Stephane Mahe’s first goal for the club.

The former Celtic full-back took up more of an attacking role on the left of Hearts’ 3-5-2 formation and caused the home side a few problems by cutting inside from the flank. The Frenchman forced Marshall to make an instinctive save and had a crisp shot ruled out for offside before putting the visitors in front after 39 minutes. Sprinting forward on his favoured left side, Mahe switched on to his right-foot and may even have surprised himself by firing an explosive shot past Marshall.

Levein knew Hearts would need cool heads and smart defending to keep Kilmarnock at bay during the opening onslaught after the interval. Instead of composure he got fevered brows and reckless mistakes. Within six minutes of the restart, Hearts had undone 45 minutes of good work and were on the rack.

While Ally Mitchell did well within 60 seconds to deliver a cross to the near post, Hearts’ concentration was switched off as the impressive Craig Dargo nipped in front of Andy Webster to stab home Kilmarnock’s equaliser.

Tommy Johnson then won a soft free-kick after bumping into Kevin McKenna and did the necessary from inside the penalty box after Stephen Murray’s cross was knocked back across goal by Peter Canero. All of this unfolded as the Hearts defence appeared to be moving through treacle.

When the visitors failed to deal properly with a short corner 15 minutes later and the lively Murray sent a swerving cross from the right into the top corner of Antti Niemi’s goal, it looked as if Kilmarnock would go on to give Hearts a real pounding.

It was true he had little to lose, but Levein’s response was ruthless. He dismantled his back three, taking off Webster, sending McKenna to play up front and partnering Steven Pressley with Scott Severin, who dropped back from midfield, and Mahe, who moved inside from wing-back. Having stopped the haemorrhaging in defence, the young coach added stability in midfield with the introduction of Tommi Gronlund and ebullience going forward thanks to the contributions from teenagers Paul McMullan and Graham Weir.

On his debut at the tender age of 16, McMullan looked eager and able foraging up and down the left flank while Weir, who made his sixth appearance of the season as a substitute, unsettled the centre of the Kilmarnock defence.

A ball over the top was only diverted by Garry Hay into Weir’s path before Marshall brought down the Hearts forward. It was a clear penalty, but with no spot-kick expert on the pitch it was left to Pressley to accept the captain’s responsibility and whack the ball into the net for his first goal of the season.

The centre-back quipped afterwards that if you asked anyone at Tynecastle who was the poorest finisher in the team, most of the players would point to him. Ask anyone, though, to identify the strongest character in the side and there would be a unanimous show of hands for Pressley.

Sensing something improbable was now on the cards, Hearts surged forward again, Weir made space with a knock-back from the edge of the box and Gronlund’s 20-yard shot took a deflection away from Marshall into the corner of the net.

It was a hectic finale to a breathless second half which left Levein unsure whether to praise the brilliance of his side’s fight-back or the awful defensive collapse which put them in trouble in the first place.

As an advert for life outside the Old Firm, though, you could hardly have wished for a more enjoyable afternoon.

Full marks, too, to Kilmarnock for giving free admission to hundreds of youngsters, giving away T-shirts and helping to ensure a new generation of spectators were enthralled by such a thrilling contest.

Taken from the Scotsman