Ebullient Hearts hand over to Celtic and Rangers as growing armoury shoots them to summit
Jambos leave it late again - but August has been a good month
A sign of a successful team is one that finds its way back from adversity and Hearts once again on Saturday proved they have the minerals to dig deep when required.
Alexandros Kyziridis' stoppage-time goal earned the Jambos a 2-1 win over Livingston at Almondvale and moved them temporarily top of the Premiership. For the third time in the league, Hearts recovered from a deficit to claim a positive result.
Last weekend Derek McInnes' men hauled themselves off the floor when 3-0 down at home to Motherwell to draw 3-3, while the game before that, they battled back to win 3-2 at Dundee United.
Given the heightened expectations at Tynecastle this season due primarily to serious investment from Brighton owner Tony Bloom, it will be of comfort to recently-appointed head coach McInnes and the club overall that they have ten points from 12 going into the international break. Should Celtic lose to Rangers at Ibrox on Sunday, they will begin September top of the pile.
Hearts weren't at their best in the first half and trailed thanks to a Lewis Smith opener. But McInnes has showed previously that he is not afraid to switch things up at the interval and his decision to change from a 3-5-2 to a 4-4-2 and bring on Greek winger Kyziridis paid off handsomely.
Hearts quickly took control of the match due to the alterations. Kyziridis set up Claudio Braga on 47 minutes for a headed goal before the wide man himself took the limelight when he curled home the winner in the first minute of stoppage time.
Hearts’ strong attacking options
Livingston will feel aggrieved given they put so much into a keenly-contested match. The winner came from a poor clearance landing into Kyziridis' path, although by that point Hearts were the only team looking likely to emerge with all three points.
Hearts are assembling a strong armoury of attacking options, which allowed McInnes plenty of darts to throw at the board. Club record signing Ageu, a box-to-box midfielder, only arrived from Santa Clara on Friday, yet he was thrust into action on 66 minutes and showed glimpses of what he can bring with some smart touches and a desire to always get on the ball. He blasted a shot wide from range and was denied when sent through on goal towards the end of the match.
McInnes would more likely prefer the team that starts matches to hit the ground running right from the off. This was the fourth game in a row where he turned to the bench at the interval - eight subs in total.
He was right to make switches given that Hearts were coming out second best in a physical battle with Livingston, who took the lead on 27 minutes when Smith too easily beat Harry Milne down the right flank, cut inside and fired a shot past keeper Zander Clark at his near post. The keeper probably should have done better.
He redeemed himself with a smart save from Tete Yengi on 43 minutes and given Hearts' only moment of note came when Braga fired wide earlier in the half, their potency levels increased with the introduction of Kyziridis.
The 24-year-old is a direct runner and after winning a corner on 47 minutes, it was played short to him and he found Braga unmarked, who glanced his header beyond a helpless Livi keeper Jerome Prior.
Massive Hearts crowd
Roared on by more than 6000 travelling fans, Hearts had more impetus and looked comfortable. Their big moment appeared to have come and gone on 78 minutes when, after Ageu had been thwarted in a one-on-one. The ball spilled out to Braga to the left of the six-yard box, but his effort thumped the post.
The game remained fierce until the end. Referee Duncan Nicolson - taking charge of only his second Premiership match - had dished out nine yellow cards by the 87th minute in what was far from a dirty encounter. Livi probably thought they had a point in the satchel but when a Mo Sylla clearance at the edge of the penalty box smacked off Scott Pittman, Lawrence Shankland fed the ball to Kyziridis and he guided it past Jerome Prior to send the travelling fans wild.
Livi so nearly responded at the death when the unmarked Connor McLennan headed wide from a corner. Hearts breathed a sigh of relief. It was another case of job done.
They can now await the end of the transfer window - McInnes does not expect too much more business - before they head to Ibrox to take on Rangers in a fortnight's time. While that will be a sterner test of this new-look Hearts, they go west with ebullience after a fine start to the league campaign.
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