Kevin Kyle relishing striking role with strong supporting cast

Hearts moved three points behind Celtic in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League on Tuesday night after Kyle's second-half penalty sealed a 2-1 victory at Motherwell.

Hearts, in third place, can now go nine points clear of their nearest rivals if they end Inverness Caledonian Thistle's year-long unbeaten away league run at Tynecastle on Saturday.

Their position is down to an impressive run which has seen them score 15 goals with just one lost in six games.

Kyle is enjoying his central striker's role, with Rudi Skacel playing off him, and Republic of Ireland striker Stephen Elliott and the impressive David Templeton out wide.

Templeton had a major hand in both Hearts goals at Fir Park, with Mark Reynolds putting through his own net after the Scotland Under-21 player's brilliant overhead kick had been saved. Templeton then earned Hearts their 60th-minute penalty after Stephen Craigan left his foot in on the youngster after another positive run.

"It's great playing with him (Templeton], Stephen on the other side and Rudi roaming around," Kyle said.

"It makes my job a lot easier because when that ball comes up, I've got a choice of three guys to get the ball off to. If I flick it on, the three of them are trying to get on the end of it.

"I think they enjoy me playing through the middle as well and it's a system that's working for us.

"I'm finding it hard to score from open play, but everybody else has been scoring and I was really pleased to get the penalty because, after beating Aberdeen 5-0 on Saturday and not scoring, I was determined to get a goal.

"And even though it was from the spot, you still have to put the ball in the back of the net."

The Scotland striker is optimistic about Hearts' chances of keeping their wining run going.

Kyle added: "When everyone is playing at the top of their game, any team will struggle to match us.

"We've got some quality players, international players.We're scoring goals for fun and keeping clean sheets and who knows where we can go?

"Saturday against Inverness is always going to be difficult, but with the confidence levels we've got, we don't fear anybody.

"We can't wait for Inverness to come down and hopefully we will be the ones to end this year-long run they've had away from home."

Motherwell failed to hit top gear on Tuesday evening after the departure of manager Craig Brown to Aberdeen, who host the Steelmen on Saturday.

But striker Nick Blackman felt that was down to their three-and-a-half-week enforced break amid the bad weather and not a reaction to Brown's departure.

The on-loan Blackburn Rovers striker is due to return to Ewood Park in early January, but with both clubs without a manager, he is not sure what his future holds.

"I've not heard anything, I've just got to keep playing for Motherwell," Blackman said. "My loan is not finished yet, I've still got four games to play and I'll take each game as it comes.

"The two clubs need to speak. I've not spoken to anyone at Blackburn, I've just been getting on with things here."