Hearts 3-0 Siroki Brijeg

On a stiflingly hot night at the home of Scottish rugby, the home side lined up with an unfamiliar looking midfield, with the biggest surprise being the inclusion of defender Ibrahim Tall in the holding position. Bruno Aguiar took Paul Hartley's normal role in front of Tall and Neil McCann made his long awaited first-team return on the left wing.

Hearts came flying out of the traps and could quite honestly have had this match done and dusted after 15 minutes.

Within two minutes the home side had already fired over a couple of dangerous crosses, the second of which saw McCann's delivery scooped over the bar by the onrushing Aguiar from a position that he really should have hit the target from

Davidas Cesnauskas was looking particularly dangerous down the right for Hearts and every time he touched the ball he looked capable of causing mayhem. After eight minutes he curled in a great cross that Bednar angled just too much with his header with McCann narrowly missing it as he ran in at the back post. A few minutes later the little Lithuanian winger was at it again, his cross deceiving everyone before arriving at McCann, who looked surprised to receive the ball and was too late to direct his header on target.

It was already starting to look like 'one of those nights' in European football when you just can't score and sadly some of the crowd were getting overly restless. I've never understood why fans in this country get so worked up when their team is merely keeping possession, patiently waiting on an opening.

Shouts of 'get it up the park' and 'forward' were being heard from all sides, but the ironic thing is that these people will be the first to give a player abuse if he punts it up the park to no-one! There's no pleasing some people, especially those who fall into the 'part-time supporter' category, of which there must have been many in the near-30,000 crowd at Murrayfield.

Hearts dominated most of the possession but Siroki were having the occasional break and won a few corners towards the end of the half.

Ibrahim Tall was looking lost in his unfamiliar midfield role and his hesitancy cost Hearts a free-kick on the edge of the box just before half-time. The resultant free-kick was smartly whipped over the wall and inches past Gordon's right hand post. A wake-up call if ever there was one!

Half-time Hearts 0-0 Siroki

The second half started in a similar way to the first, with Hearts missing a gilt-edged chance. A cross from the right found Roman Bednar six yards out in seemingly acres of space, but with the goal at his mercy the Czech delayed his shot for far too long and allowed a defender to get back and block his eventual effort. When is this goal going to come?!

Bednar was having a very frustrating evening and in between getting bad breaks of the ball, he was having a very hard time trying to stay onside, something that was clearly frustrating the crowd as well as Bednar himself.

Thankfully the all-important breakthrough was not long in coming. A trademark long throw from Robbie Neilson caused panic in the Siroki area and with 'keeper Basic flapping, the ball was nodded into the corner of the net via the post. Who got the final touch I hear you cry? Well, from where I was sitting it was very difficult to tell - if any Hearts player should claim the goal it should be Pressley, but for me it was probably an own goal from Anic. The stadium announcer however had other ideas and decided to award it to Ibrahim Tall! Maybe he felt sorry for him as so far, the Senegalese man was not having an evening to remember!

The goal predictably settled the home side down and they started to knock the ball around far more confidently. Valdas Ivanauskas clearly wanted more goals and quickly made a double-substitution after the goal, with Michal Pospisil and Saulius Mikoliunas coming on for Edgaras Jankauskas and Neil McCann respectively.

Mikoliunas' arrival meant Cesnauskas switching across to the left wing and from there he nearly brought the house down with a thrilling effort. He beat three men as he weaved into the penalty area and drove it across the 'keeper and inches wide of the left-hand post. It deserved a goal.

Hearts continued to press and from a free-kick 20 yards from goal, Paul Hartley territory, Bruno Aguiar struck as sweet a dead-ball as you'll see. Sadly the ball crashed back off the bar with Basic rooted to the spot...and still Hearts only held a slender one-goal lead.

Nerves were not helped shortly after when Siroki sparked a rare attack. Pressley was caught napping and allowed his man to get in front of him, but the Hearts skipper was let off the hook when the striker was penalised for handball just before bearing down on Gordon. Nervous glances were exchanged all round!

Thankfully the nerves were settled after 79 minutes when the Jambos eventually doubled their lead. Incredibly it was that man Tall, who'd never looked happy in the midfield all night despite an improvement after the break, who was the undisputed scorer this time. He burst into the box after good work from Mikoliunas and Pospisil, sclaffed his first attempt at a shot but as the ball broke kindly for him it sat up nicely and he absolutely buried it behind the 'keeper. 2-0....that'll do us!

To put the icing on the cake of a fine night's work, Roman Bednar took advantage of a slack pass-back from Ivica Landeka to slide the ball under the advancing Basic to give Hearts a three goal lead. I was delighted for Bednar, who'd had such a frustrating night despite his considerable endeavour. The other players clearly were too, each one of them to a man mobbing the Czech, who seems to be one of the more popular players in the Hearts dressing room.

So all in all we can have no complaints. You'd take 3-0 at home in Europe against any opposition, in fact you'd probably take any win that involves keeping a clean sheet. The added bonus is that this was only our first competitive match of the season and our midfield was below strength to say the least, so that hopefully bodes well for the future.

All we need is a solid, stifling performance next week in Bosnia and we can look forward to an ever bigger step into the unknown just a few short weeks later. I can hardly wait....!
Star Player
Quite a few good performances tonight, but I'm going for Davidas Cesnauskas, who was by far Hearts' most dangerous player. His crossing from both flanks was excellent and despite being a bit of a liability in a defensive sense, always offered a great outlet on the rare occasions Hearts were defending. Nearly scored a great goal, too.
Player Ratings
Gordon 6
Had very little to do. Can only remember one shot on target that he dealt with comfortably.
Neilson 7
Robbie did well. Solid defensively and linked well with Cesnauskas and Mikoliunas going forward. His throw as ever was a potent weapon and provided the all-important first goal.
Fyssas 6
Perhaps not quite as involved as Neilson, but generally did pretty well, especially when given some difficult passes to deal with by the midfield!
Berra 7
Strolled through the game and showed great pace when it was called upon. If he continues to play like this, will anyone remember Andy Webster?
Pressley 7
Solid in the air and made crucial contribution at the first goal. One slip in the second half nearly let Siroki in for an equaliser, but otherwise Elvis was excellent.
Tall 5
Really struggled to get into the game in the first half and looked like he'd never played in midfield in his life. Did improve after the break and if Scott Wilson was right he scored two goals (it was only one though I think), but I do hope this was a one-off decision to play him in this position.
Aguiar 6
Incredibly awarded man of the match by one of the sponsors. He didn't have a bad game, but played too many misplaced passes under no pressure to merit that award. He does show good skills at times though, his highlight being a cracking free-kick that came back off the bar.
Cesnauskas 8
A constant threat, especially in the first half when he laid on two great goalscoring chances and generally wreaked havoc down the right. Nearly scored brilliant goal to make it 2-0 after beating three men on the left.
McCann 6
Good to see him back and he put in a decent shift before being subbed after nearly an hour. Fired over some good crosses, especially from free-kicks and his experience helped balance the team in the first half. Fitness should improve with matches.
Jankauskas 6
Was subbed at the same time as McCann and didn't do badly in his time on the park. Won most of his aerial balls but Ivanauskas clearly felt we needed more mobility to get in behind Siroki's defence so brought on Pospisil instead.
Bednar 6
You can never criticise this man effort or commitment, but until the last few minutes nothing was coming off for Roman. Got no breaks of the ball, took some clumsy touches in good positions and was caught offside as many times as Stephane Adam used to! But great to see him scoring - hopefully this will set him up for the season ahead.
Mikoliunas 4
Looked lively when he came on and invited quite a few hefty tackles as the game drew to a close.
Mikoliunas 4
Looked lively when he came on and invited quite a few hefty tackles as the game drew to a close.
Pospisil 4
Also had plenty of energy and helped set up Tall for the second goal.
Brellier 1
Hardly on the park for any time at all.