Robinson hits hat-trick as young Hearts see off Uni

The game was evenly balanced at half-time with neither team able to break the deadlock although Hearts did test the University goalkeeper, Mark Tait, who saved well from Jason Holt and Robert Ogilvie while Jamie Walker thought that he had scored but his effort was disallowed because of an infringement.

However, the second half was only five minutes old when Robinson took off on a solo run through the heart of the students defence and scored with a low shot.

Shortly afterwards, a shot from Ogilvie was parried by Tait to Robinson, who turned in the penalty box to fire home another low shot. Robinson completed his hat-trick from the penalty spot after he himself had been brought down.

David Smith, Dennis Prychynenko and Ogilvie added three late goals as Hearts' fitness and stamina tested the University players. Darren Murray, the Hearts youth coach, said: "For the entire ninety minutes, we passed the ball extremely well while we were also very strong and aggressive. I was disappointed that we did not score in the first half although I thought our goals in the second half were well merited.

"I have to give credit to Edinburgh University, who made us work very hard to break them down.

"It was a real team performance from us and games like this are about the development of our players."

Douglas Samuel, the University head coach, said: "I thought that in the first half we did exceptionally well while in the second half we saw a full-time football team who are fit and ready for their season while we are a non-league side still a few weeks away from total fitness.

"However, there were enough pluses for me to make the exercise worthwhile."

Edinburgh University: Tait, Thomson, Gair, Cathcart, A. MacKinnon, Brownie, Hunter, Milne, Gray, Craigen, Antoni. Subs: Cameron, Kelly, C. MacKinnon, Irvine, Catley, McCuish.

Hearts Under-19s: Fairley, Mullens, Hill, McCormack, Hamilton, Prychynenko, Walker, Holt, Ogilvie, Robinson, Smith. Subs: Murdoch, Morton, Snapkauskas.