Hearts 4 - 1 Inverness CT

League Match
Saturday, August 26th, 2006, 3:00 PM at Tynecastle, Edinburgh
Attendance: 15,912
Referee: Steve Conroy
Hearts Inverness CT

Goalscorers
Pinilla (20)
Mole (42)
Driver (80)
Aguiar (91)
Graham Bayne (31)

Team Managers
Valdas Ivanauskas Charlie Christie

Starting Eleven
Gordon
Costa
Pressley
Karipidis
Zaliukas
Wallace
Mikoliunas
Hartley
McCann
Pinilla
Mole
Mark Brown
Richard Hastings
Ross Tokely
Grant Munro
Darren Dods
Barry Wilson
Roy McBain
Ian Black
John Rankin
Dennis Wyness
Graham Bayne

Bench
Makela
Driver
Beslija
Aguiar
Lithgow
Fyssas
Banks
Michael Fraser
Stuart McCaffrey
Russell Duncan
Liam Keogh
Alan Morgan
Zander Sutherland
Rory McAllister

Substitutions
Driver -> McCann (76)
Aguiar -> Hartley (79)
Makella -> Pinilla (86)
Rory McAllister for Dennis Wyness (44)
Russell Duncan for Ross Tokely (82)
Liam Keogh for Roy McBain (82)

Bookings
None. None.

Red Cards
None. None.
Appearances & Goals To Date
Mark Brown (GK) 183 apps -
Darren Dods 78 apps3 goals
Richard Hastings 264 apps2 goals
Ross Tokely 367 apps26 goals
Grant Munro 173 apps4 goals
Barry Wilson 276 apps75 goals
John Rankin 5 apps -
Roy McBain 231 apps13 goals
Ian Black 49 apps1 goal
Dennis Wyness 199 apps92 goals
Graham Bayne 67 apps11 goals
Russell Duncan (sub) 192 apps5 goals
Liam Keogh (sub) 102 apps3 goals
Rory McAllister (sub) 25 apps2 goals

Starting Lineup
Youngest Player:Ross Tokely (27 years 178 days)
Oldest Player:Grant Munro (2008 years 26 days)
Average Player Age:30 years 162 days
Domestic Players:10 (90.91 % of starting eleven)

Matchday Squad
Youngest Player:Ross Tokely (27 years 178 days)
Oldest Player:Zander Sutherland (2008 years 26 days)
Average Player Age:30 years 162 days
Domestic Players:17 (94.44 % of matchday squad)

First Team Debuts

Milestones

Hearts 4 - 1 ICT

"Mother said their would be days like this" - Hearts ran out 4-1 winners in todays encounter at Tynecastle. Unfortunately the score doesn't reflect the game in which ICT battled hard, played well and created the chances...

While ICT were beating Dumbarton in midweek, a nine –man Hearts team was crashing out of the Champions League in Athens. It was hard to predict whether they would be tired, and therefore ripe for the taking, or would be determined to bounce back quickly.

In the event five personnel changes resolved the tiredness problem and they won this match convincingly. It was not quite as one sided as the scoreline suggests and ICT had chances to take something from the game – at 2-1 there was always the possibility of ICT taking a point but two Hearts goals in the last ten minutes sealed the victory.

Caley Thistle reverted to the regular line-up, but with Craig Dargo not quite recovered from injury, Graham Bayne partnered Dennis Wyness up front.

This changed just before half time when Wyness left the field injured and Rory McAllister replaced him. The first real challenge on the ICT goal came from an unlikely source in seven minutes. A long Craig Gordon clearance bounced awkwardly and Mark Brown was forced to tip it over. From Paul Hartley’s corner Saulius Mikoliunas hit over the bar.

A Hearts breakthrough looked like coming in 11 minutes when Jamie Mole latched onto a Neil McCann cross and headed low towards the bottom corner. The large home support began to salute a goal but Brown dived to expertly push it behind for a corner.

Nineteen proved an unlucky number for Caley Thistle when number 19 Mauricio Pinilla opened the scoring in the nineteenth minute. After a period of Hearts pressure McCann sent a cross from the left and Pinilla sidefooted it low past Brown from a few yards out.

The visitors pressed for an equaliser and Barry Wilson came close in 27 minutes – he cleverly twisted past Mikoliunas and shot but Gordon punched it for a corner. On the half hour mark the small travelling support had something to cheer about when Graham Bayne made it 1-1. Wilson crossed from the right and Bayne lost his marker before heading the ball past Gordon from a couple of yards out.

Dennis Wyness, making his 199th appearance for the club, came very close to scoring against his old team in 39 minutes when he dived to head a Richard Hastings cross from the left. It went wide and Wyness dislocated his shoulder in the process. He left the field a few minutes later and McAllister replaced him.

Half Time: 2-1

Four minutes in to the second half Bayne raced through the centre with two defenders in close formation but he could only send the final ball wide. Hearts regained control and it was nearly 3-1 in 66 minutes when McCann hit the bar with Brown beaten.

At the other end in 75 minutes Barry Wilson dived to head a Ross Tokely cross but he failed to connect six yards out.

Any hopes of an ICT revival died in 80 minutes when Mikoliunas crossed from the right to the back post and Ross Tokely’s attempted headed clearance fell for Hearts substitute Andrew Driver – he sent an angled ball past Brown for 3-1.

In the final minute another substitute Bruno Aguiar slid onto a low ball from the left and scored to make the final result 4-1.

Full Time: 4-1

Disappointment for ICT after a good performance and they remain in tenth place.

Match report written by CaleyD



Pld W D L F A +/- Pts
1. Celtic 5 3 1 1 10 5 5 10
2. Hearts 5 3 1 1 8 5 3 10
3. Aberdeen 5 2 3 0 6 3 3 9
4. Rangers 4 2 2 0 7 4 3 8
5. Falkirk 5 2 1 2 4 4 0 7
6. St. Mirren 5 2 1 2 6 7 -1 7
7. Kilmarnock 4 2 1 1 5 6 -1 7
8. Dundee Utd 5 1 3 1 6 5 1 6
9. Hibernian 5 1 2 2 6 6 0 5
10. Inverness CT 5 0 3 2 4 8 -4 3
11. Motherwell 5 1 0 4 3 9 -6 3
12. Dunfermline 5 0 2 3 2 5 -3 2