HEARTS cruised into the quarter-finals of the Scottish Cup with one of the most swashbuckling displays of John Robertson's time as manager.
The match was particularly memorable for sparkling displays from Saulius Mikoliunas and debutant Deividas Cesnauskis, two of the first Lithuanians to join Hearts following Vladimir Romanov's takeover.
The Lithuanians switched flanks and cut insid
e at will, tormenting Killie with their directness and sublime ball control. Inside them, Stephen Simmons and Paul Hartley bossed central midfield as Hearts dominated.
From the moment the widemen combined to carve open the defence and tee up a chance for Simmons you knew Killie were in for a tough night.
However, it was teenager Lee Wallace who stole the show. The then 17-year-old, playing his third first-team match, scored a superb goal to set Hearts on their way.
With little more than five minutes played the left-back picked up the ball in his own half and spotting a gap in midfield strode forward. He was allowed to keep running and as he approached the Killie penalty area fed Dennis Wyness.
The forward intelligently returned the pass and Wallace showed remarkable composure to take a touch and then lift the ball over Alan Combe into the net.
It was a swashbuckling start to the match and there was plenty more to come. A few minutes later Hartley's free-kick spun off Simon Ford and onto Lee Miller's forehead which it left like a bullet into the top corner. Whether the forward knew much about it is another matter.
Hearts were flying and Miller was enjoying all the luck of a striker bang in form.
Wallace had his tail up in the first period and instigated a number of attacks, either by feeding one of the two wide men or launching an impressive long pass such as the one which sent Hartley scurrying towards goal before he was halted by a David Lilley slide-tackle.
Mikolunias and Cesnauskis were willing to shoot on sight and, after the latter was denied by a fine block from Combe, he grabbed his first goal for the club.
Fittingly, it was his fellow countryman who provided the assist, cutting the ball back from the byline before Cesnauskis rifled the ball into the far corner.
It was just reward for those supporters who invested time and money to watch these teams lock horns for the third time in a row when they might have been tempted to stay at home and watch on TV.
Robertson, always determined to entertain, was clearly delighted. "It's no surprise that the Lithuanians should make a contribution so quickly. We play the kind of football they like and are used to," he said.
"We like to play it on the ground, get forward, make good passes and score goals. That's what we did again tonight and I thought we played very well.
"Young Lee Wallace has also done great again. He's just a kid but he scored a great goal running 70 yards before dinking the ball over the keeper. More importantly, he did a great job defensively. He has shown he is no slouch going forward but he is a full-back and it's important he defends."
It was a miserable night for former Jambos boss Jim Jefferies. Denied several players through injury, his team never got going. Even a few chants of his name from the away support couldn't raise a smile but he did have some magnanimous words for his team's conquerors.
He said: "Hearts have a very solid base in defence with Steven Pressley and Andy Webster. But the real flair came from the Lithuanians. I thought the lad making his debut had an exceptional game."
Hearts would go on to beat Livingston 2-1 at Tynecastle in the quarter-finals before losing 2-1 to Celtic at Hampden in the semi-finals.
Kilmarnock: Combe, Lilley, Ford, Fontaine, Hay, Leven, MacDonald, Naismith (Murray 70), Johnston, Boyd, Invincibile. Subs not used: Bell, Fowler, Dargo, Dodds.
Hearts: Gordon, Neilson, Wallace, Pressley, Webster, Mikoliunas, Simmons (MacFarlane 81), Hartley, Cesnauskis, Wyness (Burchill 75), Miller (Thorarinsson 84). Subs not used: Moilanen, Berra.
The full article contains 700 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
