Shaky Hearts do just enough

STUART BATHGATE
AT TYNECASTLE

Hearts 2
Miller (1), McAllister (10)

Livingston 1
Easton (61)

Referee: A Freeland. Attendance: 10,796

AFTER the brightest of starts, Hearts made heavy weather of booking their place in the semi-finals of the Tennent’s Scottish Cup. Two goals in ten minutes against a shell-shocked Livingston settled any nerves the home team had going into this last-eight encounter, but they also induced a certain torpor.

When a revitalised Livingston pulled a goal back after an hour Hearts could not rediscover the verve they had shown in the opening stages, and in the end were thankful to hang on and avoid a replay for the first time in this season’s competition. Hearts have now reached the semi-finals of both domestic cup competitions in the same season for only the second time in the club’s history, the only other occasion being season 1976/77.

In the last league meeting between the teams Livingston had been unlucky to lose, and they were in the contest until the last yesterday, but only after coming close to being out of it completely from very early on.

Hearts had begun in determined mood, proving their eagerness to recover from the defeat by Motherwell eight days ago which was more crushing than the 2-0 scoreline might suggest. John Robertson adjusted his line-up from that match by dropping Dennis Wyness and Deividas Cesnauskis to the bench and bringing in Mark Burchill and Jamie McAllister came in for them, while Christophe Berra deputised for the suspended Steven Pressley.

It took less than a minute for McAllister to justify his recall. When Alan Freeland awarded a free-kick for a foul by Gus Bahoken on Lee Miller, McAllister curled a ball into the box. Miller got to the ball first, and looped a header into the top right corner of Colin Meldrum’s net.

Stephen Simmons came close with a drive from the edge of the box minutes later, and the warning signs for Livingston were all too glaring. Either through sluggishness or inability, however, they were unable to heed those signs, and in the tenth minute they went two down.

The influence of Mikoliunas was crucial. Receiving possession just inside the Livingston half, the Lithuanian winger left Jason Dair for dead then delivered a low, teasing cross into the box. It evaded everyone until reaching the far post, where McAllister was stationed to send a first-time drive into the net.

An almost identical run by Mikoliunas moments later should have led to Hearts’ third, but Miller’s shot just cleared the bar. McAllister then just missed the target with a shot from the edge of the six-yard box, and Livingston were in some danger of being swamped. In an attempt to stem the tide, Greg Strong, who had begun the game up front, dropped back to his customary berth in central defence. Eric Deloumeaux moved from centre-half to left-back, and Dair, who had started on the left of the back four, was shunted into midfield. The pack may have been reshuffled, but the odds remained stacked against Gough’s side. Miller had a penalty claim turned down when he fell after contact with Bahoken, and then Mark Burchill shot feebly from the edge of the box when Miller was in the clear on the right. Mikoliunas was troubling Deloumeaux just as much as he had done Dair, but, with the game apparently reduced to little more than a training exercise, half-time came with no further scoring.

Gough responded to his team’s plight by making a triple substitution at the break, bringing on the Macedonian, Goran Stanic, and two of the club’s three Hungarians, Ferenc Horvath and Gabor. It looked like an act of desperation, but Stanic added solidity to the defence. Building from the back, Livingston inched their way back into the match, and it was no surprise when they scored with an hour played. There was an element of controversy about the goal, as the main-stand linesman flagged for offside against James McPake in the build-up to it. Dair, who had lobbed the ball forward to McPake, noticed his team-mate backing away from the ball, and took another touch himself. With the referee over-ruling his assistant, presumably on the grounds that McPake had played no active part in proceedings, Dair then crossed for Craig Easton to head in.

Cesnauskis had been warming up, but when the goal went in Robertson opted to throw on Neil MacFarlane instead. MacFarlane replaced Simmons as Robertson decided the midfield needed shoring up, but the switch made no immediate difference to the game.

Hearts had fallen flat after their effervescent start, with Berra booked, then Horvath and Webster after an aerial clash in midfield. From the McAllister free-kick which came of that clash, Miller could have wrapped up the match but he got too heavy a touch as he lunged in on goal and the ball went spinning off his shin.

Cesnauskis did then enter the contest, but Hearts’ attacking threat had petered out, and the Lithuanian, on for his compatriot Mikoliunas, had little opportunity to rekindle it. With little more than five minutes left, a direct free-kick from Dair went just wide of Gordon’s left post. It was the last chance for Livingston, who can consider themselves unlucky not to have forced the tie to a replay.

Hearts: Gordon, Neilson, Webster, Berra, Wallace, Mikoliunas (Cesnauskis 77), Hartley, Simmons (MacFarlane 64), McAllister, Burchill (Wyness 82), Miller. Subs not used: Moilanen, Kizys.

Livingston: Meldrum, McNamee, Bahoken (Stanic 46), Deloumeaux, Dair, Strong, Easton, Wilson (Vincze 46), O’Brien, McPake, Lilley (Horvath 46). Subs not used: McKenzie, Hand.

Taken from the Scotsman