How Hearts brought fun back to Tynecastle - Steven Naismith's to lose, double-figures fear, no safety-first football

Lawrence Shankland scored a hat-trick in Hearts' 6-1 win over Ross County.

After suffering a false start last weekend against Hibs, the Steven Naismith-era at Tynecastle has been given lift off in explosive and expressive style.

Any kind of win is welcome after six successive losses but this was comprehensive to the point of utterly embarrassing for Ross County, whose relegation worries had accumulated several fold before their rivals at the bottom had even got their boots on.

After the toxicity of recent weeks, Tynecastle purred with delight. It was all done and dusted by 1.25pm, when the home team left the pitch four goals to the good. Each player received a high five from Naismith as they departed down the tunnel.

Forgetting last week’s traumatic derby reversal at Easter Road, Naismith could be forgiven for thinking this management lark is easy. He is already celebrating an achievement of sorts. This win means Hearts have managed to avoid making unwanted history. Only once have Hearts lost as many as seven games in a row, going on to lose ten in succession at the end of the 1978/79 season on their way to relegation.

Yutaro Oda played well in a rare start for Hearts.

Stemming this current run is not necessarily something Naismith will include high up on his managerial CV. However, it’s a start considering he is auditioning for the permanent job.

No, it’s more than a start. The job, surely, is now his to lose. Hearts might easily have scored a dozen goals. The fans found their voice. “Hearts, Hearts, glorious Hearts…” they chorused as the men in maroon swarmed towards the visitors’ goal. Sadly, this doesn't play out very well for Robbie Neilson. Even before the recent poor run, which made his position so vulnerable, there were plenty of grumbles about the style of football and the way the handbrake always seemed to be applied to make days like this seem completely unattainable.

He was safety first. Judging by this, Naismith is going to be as good as his word. “The fans want attacking football,” he told the club’s website after replacing Neilson. “They want a team that goes into every game trying to win it, not one that’s going to defend or hold out for a draw or a 1-0 win.” The only complaint might be that Hearts only scored twice in the second half and allowed Ross County to score from the spot. Substitute Owura Edwards-Owura’s consolation goal – he also won the penalty – was cheered by all four stands. The fun really has returned to Tynecastle.

As well as the goals, which we will get to later, the ball pinged off the woodwork and pinballed around the goalmouth. There was a point around the hour mark, after hat-trick hero Lawrence Shankland chipped in Hearts’ sixth, yes their sixth, when it was possible to genuinely fear for Ross County and their manager, Malky Mackay. Were we about to witness a team reaching double figures? Even Celtic stopped short of doing that earlier this season.

It was a day to forget for Ross County manager Malky Mackay.

As for the goals? Well, how long have you got? Hearts showed their intent from kick-off with Cammy Devlin passing back to Barrie McKay who quickly shovelled the ball wide to Josh Ginnelly, who set off down the wing. It had clearly been worked on in training. No aimless thumps forward. Noted, Steven.

Hearts had already squandered a couple of decent opportunities before they opened the scoring through Alex Cochrane after 17 minutes. Yutaro Oda, making his first start since January, sidefooted wide after the busy Cochrane’s cutback, while McKay blazed over from the edge of the box after Shankland’s chested lay-off. In truth, County had already come closest to scoring when Cochrane headed a corner away from almost under his own crossbar.

But then the floodgates opened. Cochrane burst through the static County defence and rifled a shot past Ross Laidlaw, who had a pretty decent game all things considered. Five minutes later it was 2-0. Cammy Devlin, who set the tone for Hearts all afternoon, robbed David Cancola and set Ginnelly free with a perfectly weighted ball through the middle. The winger cut inside Dylan Smith and then curled into the top corner with his left foot. It was a sumptuous finish that was so nearly left on football’s version of the cutting room floor after the nearside linesman David McGeachie raised his flag for offside. Mercifully, the goal was restored following a VAR check. There are too few good things in Scottish football to discard goals of this quality.

Ginnelly also made sure he was not robbed of the chance to celebrate the moment and hared off into the corner pursued by his teammates once the goal had been given. By 28 minutes, things were beginning to look very bleak indeed for Ross County. Cochrane lifted an enticing cross towards the back post and Shankland simply had to bow his head and let the ball hit off him, sending it back across Laidlaw into the far corner.

Not for the first or indeed last time, an inquest was held in the County defence. One took place a couple of minutes later when Shankland very nearly lobbed Laidlaw from an angle just outside the box. The ball dropped onto the bar and over. A stretching Laidlaw save from Devlin prevented a fourth but this was only delayed until the seventh minute of additional time at the end of the first half, following a VAR check after Smith’s trip on Shankland. The striker made no mistake from the spot.

The second half brought a jolt to the senses – County almost scored. Jordan White's header bit the bar before normal service resumed. Ginnelly made it 5-0 after ghosting past Alex Iacovitti and then Shankland scored a deft sixth after the ball fell at his feet after Oda's solo run hit a roadblock.