Hearts recorded their fourth consecutive 1-0 Tynecastle win against Dundee thanks to Oisin McEntee’s second half header.
Following an opening 45 with only five shots, Hearts upped their intensity after the restart. Above all, the return of captain Lawrence Shankland, Cameron Devlin and Oisin McEntee stood out. Telfer Gray reports.
Team News:
Both sides made four changes to their starting XI’s.
Hearts, who sought to arrest last week’s 1-0 defeat at Kilmarnock, reintroduced Jordi Altena, Devlin and McEntee in the starting lineup, with Shankland on the bench.
Craig Halkett was forced to watch on the sidelines following a back injury in the warmup, with Michael Steinwender replacing him in central defence. Alan Forrest, too, joined the bench.
Steven Pressley was keen to stretch Dundee’s unbeaten run to six games after their last gasp 2-2 draw against rivals Dundee United.
Bradley Halliday replaced Imari Hines–Samuels at right back, with Finlay Robertson replacing Joel Cotterill at holding midfield. Joseph Westley started over Hearts loanee Yan Dhanda behind Ashley Hay in attack who was favoured over Simon Murray.
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There was no repeat rendition of the 1986 Hearts song by Colin Chisholm, he was swapped for a live Q&A with 2012 Scottish Cup winner manager Paulo Sergio and alas a McInnes motivational message on the big screens.
First Half
Upon the whistle, Dundee attacked the Gorgie Road stand and showed very little offensive adventure; frustrating Hearts with a deep defensive line.
This gave little space from the central midfield to Braga and Kabore, and with that saw very few openings for either side in the first twenty minutes.
Altena showed promise in his new right midfield role, and provided the game’s opening chance with a lovely cross, however Landry Kabore mistimed his jump 8 yards from goal.
A wonderful close touch and skill from Claudio Braga saw him exchange a one-two with Altena, but despite a clear view on goal he hit wide from 12 yards.
Few could argue for Kabore’s two earlier misses, however he should have scored when Braga flicked on Schwollow’s punt. The forward chipped the ball over the bar while one-on-one with Jon McCracken in an almost identical miss to the previous home game versus Aberdeen.
Tony Yogane was Dundee’s biggest threat with his direct pace and dribbling occasionally troubling McEntee, and he was only a couple of yards from winning a penalty when Frankie Kent was booked after illegally foiling the counterattack.
From the freekick, Joseph Westley hit a powerful shot that was expertly parried by Schwolow.
Second Half
For the second half, Hearts arrived on the pitch a few minutes prior to Dundee, and from the whistle they had boosted attacking intent- particularly with Kyziridis gaining more touches of the ball.
Not many could fault Kabore’s endeavour, and the game’s biggest roar arrived when a reintroduced Shankland replaced him in the fifty third minute.
Shankland was gaining more touches off the ball which brought his midfielders into play, and Blair Spittal had a powerful drive saved from the edge of the box.
Simon Murray came on for Ashley Hay in attack, and he was close to repeating his goal in last season’s 1-0 Dundee win here; firing over the bar first time inside of the box.
Then the defining moment arrived, Marc Leonard’s very deep wide free kick floated high into the path of McEntee’s head which despite McCracken getting his hand to the ball, couldn’t prevent the goal.
“We Shall Not Be Moved” was the chorus from the Gorgie faithful after the side’s nineteenth league set-piece goal, and despite Dundee’s best efforts, they still failed to trouble Schwolow in goal.
Kyziridis created a chance for Shankland on the turn, and good goalkeeper positioning prevented the Scotland international from scoring with McCracken saving well on the bottom left.
In the four minutes of stoppage time, Frankie Kent was handed a second yellow card for preventing an attack, and thankfully for Hearts the two-week international break should allow sufficient time for defensive stalwarts Stuart Findlay and Halkett to heal.
Then McCracken came up for a Dundee corner, and Shankland gained possession before being not too far off from recreating his own Kenny McLean moment.
In the end, Hearts held on with relative ease for their third consecutive league win over Dundee, and to stay top of the Scottish Premier League for now.
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Either side will not face each other again this season. Hearts being three and five points ahead of Rangers in 2nd and 3rd place Celtic in their quest for their first league title since 1960.
Dundee stay in eighth five points ahead of Kilmarnock who occupy the relegation play-off spot.
Hearts next travel to bottom side Livingston, while Steven Pressley’s men will look to secure a memorable home double over Celtic, both on the fifth of April.
