13th April 2024 Hearts 4 Livingston 2

 

Tynecastle again today with Hearts last game before the SPL split. Hearts now stand in third place of the league eleven points ahead of fourth placed Kilmarnock and look to be guaranteed European football next season. I left home just after 14.00 and walked to Tynecastle arriving around 14.20. I logged into Footbology outside the stadium as reception inside is awful. Scanned my season ticket and headed to my seat in main stand. There was a stranger in seat next to me and as we got talking he realised he was in the wrong row and moved away. When Davey came in I told him and found it amusing as he took his normal seat beside me.

Steven Naismith made a total of six changes from the side that started in the win at Paisley last week. Lawrence Shankland and Beni Baningime returned after illness while Craig Gordon, Nat Atkinson, Yutaro Oda and Barrie McKay also returned to first team action. This was Gordons first league start since his broken leg in Christmas Eve 2922 and Naismith indicated after the game that he would continue in goal for next weeks Scottish Cup tie against Rangers. Livingston, under manager David Martindale, are bottom of the SPL with eighteen points from thirty-two matches and now look certainties for relegation. Their squad includes a number of former Hearts players with keeper Jack Hamilton and midfielders Jamie Brandon and Jason Holt. Striker Teti Yengi signed in January and has replaced last seasons top scorer Joel Nouble up front.

The game started badly for Hearts and pd for the first twenty-five minutes they looked like a pub team. No cohesion and a defence that seemed to have forgotten how to defend. Livingston went ahead after ten minutes when a long ball found a space behind Atkinson. With the rest of the defence stranded Gordon raced from his goal to clear on the left outside his penalty area. His attempted clearance was mishit and ended up at the feet of Stephen Kelly thirty yards from goal. His first time shot flew into the unguarded goal to give Livi the lead. After twenty-two minutes Livingston went 2-0 up. Frankie Kent has a clearance intercept by Yengi who knocked the ball to Kelly jusut outside the penalty in the middle of the park. He shot low into the corner of the net giving Gordon no chance of making a save. Hearts seemed to waken up after the second Livingston goal and pullled a goal back after twenty-nine minutes. McKay made a break down the left and his pas found Shankland in the penalty box on just outside the six yard box. His pass across the six yard box found Jorge Grant who slid in to slip the ball past keeper Shamal George. A minute later Hearts equalised when a long ball found Shankland free going into the penalty box on the left. His low pass found Oda at the near post on the six yard line and his deflection found the net. Hearts went ahead after forty minutes when Alex Cochrane made a break down the left after some clever play between McKay and Shankland. Again it was a low ball into the six yard box where Cammy Devlin slid in to score. Hearts scored a fourth in injury time in the first half. Nicky Devlin sent a header back towards his keeper Shamal George however it was short and Oda nipped in to gather the ball. George raced from his goal and tripped Oda as he took the ball round him in the penalty box. It was a clear penalty and Shankland fired the kick into the right hand side of the goal with George diving the wrong. I was surprised Shankland took the kick as Grant had taken recent penalties following a few misses from Shankland.

There was a strange incident early in the second half when Livingston sent on  rice Anderson as a substitute for Yengi. The striker was not happy at being replaced asnd left the field and kicked a water bottle against the inside of the Livingston dugout. Referee Colin Steven had show him a yellow card for a foul on Cochrane and now moved over to the dugout to show him a second yellow and a subsequent red card. Yengi had to leave the dugout and return to the dressing. Given Yengi was off the park when he kicked the bottle I can only assume the referee adjudged Yengi had committed was guilty of ungentlemanly conduct. I have seen players kicking bottles as they have been substituted previously but this was the first time I haven it adjudged as a yellow card. Hearts almost scored a fifth minutes later when Shankland hit the underside of the crossbar with a shot from around ten yards from the right hand side of the penalty area. The rebound was just outside reach of substitute Kenneth Vargas. Livingston did little in the second half and Hearts the opportunity to use five substitutes to give them some game time and rest regular starters. I felt sorry for Kyosuke Tagawa who work really bard pressing defenders when he came on. I think if he could just get a goal, even it is from a clearance bouncing off him into the net, his confidence would return. However I am not so convinced about loan signing Scott Fraser as I think Hearts already have midfield players who offer more than he can.

After the final whistle I walked home happy. After a poor start Hearts played well and have now clinched a place in Europe for next season. Next up is the Cup semi-final against Rangers on twenty-first April.

Teams

Hearts: Gordon, Kent, Baningime, Grant, Shankland,, Oda, Atkinson, Devlin, Rowles, McKay, Cochrane. 

Subs: Kingsley, Forrest, Fraser, Tagawa, Vargas. 

 

Livingston: George, Devlin, Obileye, Pittman, Stephen Kelly, Mackay, Brandon, Holt, Nottingham, Sean Kelly, Yengi. 

Subs: Carson, Anderson, Sangare