17th March 2018 Hearts v Patrick Thistle 3-0

First Hearts game for some time but looking forward to it. Watched the Scotland rugby match v Italy before heading to Tynecastle and pleased to see Scotland scrape a victory. Walked to Tynecastle and arrived at about 14.40 ready for game. Hearts have made number of changes from last game but again Malauray Martin not in squad. I was surprised by Craig Levein's comments earlier this week that he was not his type of player. Craig was director of football who signed him and why would he get a three and a half year contract if there were doubts about his style. In his first spell Levein dumped Jean-Louis Valios after a season and I think the same is happening here to Martin. Too much skill for a Levein team?

When I got to the ground an interesting side was announced, in probably a 3-5-2 formation. Not sure about Michael Smith in midfield but looking a not bad side. One small surprise was that young lads who had been thrown into the side this season were all on the bench.

Game started with Hearts being the dominant side with Osman of Thistle booked early on for a bad tackle. Later in the half he took out both Joaquim Adao and Steven Naismith but never received a second yellow card when either tackle could have been a straight red. I did like Craig Levein's comment about can a player be sent off three times in the same game,

Back to the game however and Hearts opened the scoring in seventeen minutes, Adao won the ball in midfield and passed to Don Cowie who fed Naismith. He flicked the ball through to the onrushing Kyle Lafferty who shot past Thomas Cerny from the edge of the penalty box. Lafferty's seventeenth goal of the season in the seventeenth minute. Four minutes later Adao won the ball on the right touch line be raced down the wing and crossed into the six yard box. Naismith knocked the ball home to put Hearts 2-0 up.

Shortly before halftime a long throw from Michael Smith landed at the feet of John Souttar on the six yard line. He bundled the ball home for his first Hearts goal. 

After a good first half the second was a bit of a disappointment with both sides appearing to have settled for a 3-0 scoreline. Partick Thistle showed.showed some common sense by taking Osman off before he was sent off. Jon McLaughlin made a couple of good saves from isolated Thistle attacks but the game petered out with a good Hearts victory. It was good however to see Harry Cichrane getting a run as a substitute following his recent injury. He looked on top form with good passing and tackling and came close with a shot late on.

Walked home happy after both Hearts and Scotland (at rugby) victories.

Hearts: McLaughlin, Godinho, Souttar, Berra, Hughes, Adao, Smith, Amankwaa, Cowie, Naismith, Lafferty. 

Subs:Cochrane, McDonald, Moore

Partick Thistle: Cerny, Booth, Cargill, Osman, Doolan, Erskine, Lawless, Elliott, Devine, Woods, Storey. 

Subs: McCarthy, Barton, Edwards