HEARTS put in an assured performance against West of Scotland League side Auchinleck Talbot in the Scottish Cup fourth round, banishing any memories of their exit to Brora Rangers a year ago with a 5-0 win.
Liam Boyce scored twice before half-time, once from the spot, after Andy Halliday had put the visitors ahead. Second-half goals from Peter Haring and Alex Cochrane put a shine on the result for the side sitting third in the cinch Premiership.
John Souttar was missing from the Hearts squad altogether amid speculation he is to agree a move to Rangers this month. Australian wing-back Nathaniel Atkinson was brought in for his debut while there were starts for Halliday and the returning Boyce.
Talbot manager Tommy Sloan stuck with the same XI which defeated Irvine Meadow the previous week.
The home side, buoyed by their raucous support, took the game to the Premiership outfit from the opening stages, with striker Bryan Boylan looping an effort towards goal within seconds of kick-off. After that they harried the Hearts defence into mistakes for a spell.
Talbot were certainly up for the scrap and Hearts disruptor-in-chief Cammy Devlin was the subject of a couple of early heavy challenges from midfielder Gareth Armstrong.
Robbie Neilson’s men settled into the match around five minutes in and barely looked back. Their half-time advantage could have been larger had Boyce not had an early goal harshly disallowed or if referee Greg Aitken had spotted a handball in the box from Talbot defender Craig McCracken.
On 14 minutes, Hearts took the lead through Halliday. Barrie McKay was the architect with a wonderfully floated cross which the 30-year-old dived at to head in.
There was almost an instant second when Atkinson’s low volley was well saved by Andrew Leishman.
Hearts continued to dominate but didn’t increase their lead until six minutes before half-time from the penalty spot. This time it was Christopher Stafford’s hand and this time Aitken pointed to the spot before Boyce stepped up to send Leishman the wrong way.
“The first five minutes we started really well, we put them under a wee bit pressure for a few minutes and had a couple of balls across the goal,” said Sloan post-match.
“If we get to half-time 1-0, you’re a bit happier but the penalty kills the game and it’s damage limitation really after that.
“I thought the second half was a better effort from the team. There’s no shame in it.
“There’s a big gulf in class there. This is a journey for us, we’re going to go out of the competition at some stage, we’re never going to get to Hampden.”
But the manager wasn’t shy about criticising his players despite their effort: “I’ll be honest, I was a wee bit disappointed: we’ve got beat 5-0 and we’ve not had a player booked. I’d rather we were a wee bit more aggressive,” he said.
Within 10 minutes of the restart it was three when Halliday broke down the left and sent a high cross which was simply nodded in by Boyce for his second.
Not long after Craig Gordon had to be alert to deny Boylan at his near post. That was followed by another save, this time from a long-range effort from Aidan Wilson before Graham Wilson agonisingly lifted the rebound over.
That was about as close as Talbot got to giving their fans something to cheer and instead of closing the deficit, it was added to twice in the final 10 minutes. First, Haring was slipped through by second-half substitute Aaron McEneff, the Austrian took it on the run before wrapping his foot around the ball, sending it high into the net.
Then, with seven minutes remaining, Atkinson, who was a threat down the right all afternoon, did well to skip past Aidan Wilson before picking out his fellow wing-back Cochrane for a tap-in.
“The first goal is always really important,” said Neilson. “We managed to get it and it settled us down.
“Tommy has been here 16 or 17 years and built one of the best Junior teams for a long, long time. For us to come down and win the way we did, I’m pleased.”
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