Hearts 2 - 0 Inverness CT

League Match
Tuesday, March 1st, 2016, 7:45 PM at Tynecastle Stadium, Edinburgh
Attendance: 15,767
Referee: Alan Muir
Hearts Inverness CT

Goalscorers
Jamie Walker (35)
Abiola Dauda (53)
None.

Team Managers
Robbie Neilson John Hughes

Starting Eleven
Neil Alexander
Liam Smith
Alim Ozturk
John Souttar
Igor Rossi
Sam Nicholson
Prince Buaben
Arnaud Sutchuin
Jamie Walker
Gavin Reilly
Abiola Dauda
Owain Fon Williams
Gary Warren
Daniel Devine
Carl Tremarco
Iain Vigurs
Liam Polworth
Greg Tansey
Danny Williams
Lewis Horner
Jordan Roberts
Miles Storey

Bench
Jack Hamilton
Blazej Augustyn
Miguel Pallardo
Juan Delgado
Don Cowie
Jordan McGhee
Dario Zanatta
Ryan Esson
Jason Brown
Blair Maclennan
Ryan Williams
Liam Hughes

Substitutions
Dario Zanatta -> Jamie Walker (66)
Don Cowie -> Abiola Dauda (78)
Jordan McGhee -> Igor Rossi (80)
Ryan Williams for Jordan Roberts (70)
Liam Hughes for Lewis Horner (82)

Bookings
Arnaud Sutchuin (54) Jordan Roberts (53)
Iain Vigurs (59)

Red Cards
None. None.
Appearances & Goals To Date
Owain Fon Williams (GK) 34 apps -
Carl Tremarco 62 apps1 goal
Daniel Devine 71 apps2 goals
Gary Warren 139 apps12 goals
Greg Tansey 136 apps24 goals
Iain Vigurs 50 apps8 goals
Jordan Roberts 7 apps1 goal
Lewis Horner 15 apps1 goal
Danny Williams 96 apps4 goals
Liam Polworth 63 apps5 goals
Miles Storey 25 apps9 goals
Ryan Williams (sub) 3 apps -
Liam Hughes (sub) 5 apps -

Starting Lineup
Youngest Player:Liam Polworth (21 years 146 days)
Oldest Player:Greg Tansey (2017 years 216 days)
Average Player Age:25 years 288 days
Domestic Players:6 (54.55 % of starting eleven)

Matchday Squad
Youngest Player:Jason Brown (19 years 242 days)
Oldest Player:Greg Tansey (2017 years 216 days)
Average Player Age:26 years 58 days
Domestic Players:11 (68.75 % of matchday squad)

First Team Debuts

Milestones
Iain Vigurs played his 50th major competitive game for the Club.

Grim Stuff:

Our miserable form continues as Hearts swept us aside in a comfortable 2-0 win for the Jambos. It was another uninspiring performance from Inverness, although it's hardly surprising with nine players receiving treatment and Ross Draper suspended. A goal in either half from Jamie Walker and Abiola Dauda condemned us to life outside the top-six for now.

With another trip to Edinburgh on Sunday for the Scottish Cup tie at Easter Road, it could be a grim week for the Caley Jags unless Yogi can lift he team for the defence of our trophy.

Here's a report from a Hearts perspective:

Jamie Walker on scoresheet again as Hearts beat Inverness: Jamie Walker continued his goalscoring streak as Hearts moved to 50 points for the season with a comfortable 2-0 win over Inverness. The midfielder netted in his fourth consecutive Ladbrokes Premiership game after latching on to Arnaud Djoum's searching pass to get in behind a packed Caley Thistle defence in the 35th minute at Tynecastle. Inverness had not got going as an attacking force before Abiola Dauda capitalised on Greg Tansey's mistake to give the home side a cushion within eight minutes of the restart. The victory moves Hearts six points behind second-placed Aberdeen while Caley Thistle remain in the bottom six. Inverness looked content to sit in from the start and they frustrated Hearts for long spells of the first half. The first chance fell for Dauda after Walker had brought down Alim Ozturk's diagonal ball, but Danny Devine threw himself in the way of the striker's shot. Hearts continued to probe patiently.

Prince Buaben had a shot saved and right-back Liam Smith - deputising impressively for the injured Callum Paterson - played a one-two with Gavin Reilly and fired a left-footed shot from 20 yards which just cleared the bar. A touch of desperation crept into the home side when Ozturk shot from the edge of the centre circle, although Owain Fon Williams had to watch the bounce carefully before clutching the ball. The breakthrough came following another diagonal ball to Walker, who took down Djoum's 50-yard pass on his foot, kept it away from two Inverness defenders, nipped round Williams and squeezed a shot inside the near post. Caley Thistle had to come out and attack after the interval but they were caught out after one of their first attempts broke down.

Tansey tried to play the ball back to Williams from the halfway line but under-hit the pass and Dauda pounced before rounding the goalkeeper and finding the empty net. Inverness, who missed the suspended Ross Draper, plugged away without looking like getting back in the game. Jordan Roberts shot weakly at home goalkeeper Neil Alexander and Dauda had a good chance to score his fourth Hearts goal, but side-footed straight at Williams after being set up by Sam Nicholson. Alexander was busier in the final 10 minutes, saving from Carl Tremarco and Iain Vigurs, but it was too little, too late from the visitors.

Match report written by tm4tj



Pld W D L F A +/- Pts
1. Celtic 27 19 5 3 70 22 48 62
2. Aberdeen 27 17 5 5 46 30 16 56
3. Hearts 27 14 8 5 49 26 23 50
4. Ross County 29 12 3 14 44 46 -2 39
5. St. Johnstone 27 10 6 11 42 44 -2 36
6. Motherwell 28 9 5 14 33 44 -11 32
7. Dundee 27 8 11 8 40 42 -2 35
8. Inverness CT 27 8 9 10 34 39 -5 33
9. Partick Thistle 25 8 7 10 25 31 -6 31
10. Hamilton Academical 28 7 9 12 32 48 -16 30
11. Kilmarnock 29 7 7 15 29 51 -22 28
12. Dundee Utd 27 5 5 17 29 50 -21 20

* - Table split into two divisions of six.