Hearts 2 Ross County 1: Jambos new boy Alan Forrest is new fans’ favourite as Lawrence Shankland left in the shade
THE Jambos turned out in their droves expecting goals from their summer new boy.
Thankfully Alan Forrest obliged as Lawrence Shankland enjoyed a quiet Tynecastle debut.
Barrie McKay added a superb second in the sunshine before Jordan White replied for County.
And that was enough to ensure business as usual down Gorgie way as Hearts made a winning start in front of a sell-out crowd.
This, though, was no opening day breeze for Robbie Neilson’s side. Far from it.
Malky Mackay’s side were better for long periods and hit the bar AND the post in the first half.
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But Forrest showed why Neilson was so keen to get him from Livingston with a quality strike.
Neilson handed starts to three new boys with Shankland, Kye Rowles and Forrest all in.
Michael Smith started in midfield alongside Peter Haring, who made his 100th appearance.
Staggies boss Mackay named close season arrivals Ben Purrington and Owura Edwards in his eleven.
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THE VERDICT
HEARTS
Craig Gordon 7, Craig Halkett 7, Kye Rowles 6, Toby Sibbick 5, Nathaniel Atkinson 2, Michael Smith 6, Peter Haring 6, Alex Cochrane 6, Alan Forrest 7, Lawrence Shankland 5, Barrie McKay 7
Subs: Jorge Grant (Atkinson 28) 3, Liam Boyce (Shankland 71) 2, Cammy Devlin (Forrest 77) 2, Andy Halliday (McKay 77) 2,
ROSS COUNTY
Ross Laidlaw 6, Connor Randall 6, Jack Baldwin 7, Alex Iacovitti 6, Ben Purrington 7, Owura Edwards 7, Ross Callachan 6, Josh Sims 7, Jordan Tillson 6, Jordy Hiwula 7, Dominic Samuel 7
Subs: Yan Dhanda (Sims 64) 3, Kazeem Oglaibe (Edwards 64) 3, Jordan White (Samuel 76) 2, Callum Johnson (Randall 81) 2.
MAN OF THE MATCH
ALAN FORREST just edged it as the new boy grabbed this game by the scruff of the neck at the start of the second half. Hearts had been outplayed for 45 minutes and needed a spark and he was the one who provided it, setting up opportunities before he put them ahead, turning home Alex Cochrane’s cross. Owura Edwards stood out for County, causing the Jambos all kinds of problems in the first half.
MAN IN THE MIDDLE
THEY say teams take time getting up to speed at the start of the season - maybe the same applies to refs, too! Dickinson didn’t seem right on it at Tynecastle, taking up wrong positions and making a number of baffling calls that upset both bosses, who were constantly in the ear of the fourth official. And, having booked Jack Baldwin for a pull, he should have done so again when he held back Boyce.
MEN IN THE DUGOUT
ROBBIE NEILSON will just be happy to get this one out of the way and focus on next week’s massive debyr with Hibs at Easter Road. Hearts weren’t great here, but they still did enough to take the three points and that’s a good quality to have. Malky Mackay will have been thrilled with his side’s first half display, but will also know their inability to score when they were on top ultimately killed them here.
Shankland began up top with Forrest and Barrie McKay on either side.
He fired wide with his first real touch in the 8th minute after Forrest had been taken out.
But Hearts survived a scare soon after when Alex Iacovitti’s long clearance caught them out.
Edwards was alert and onside and he evaded one challenge as maroon shirts raced back.
And the ball broke to Jordy Hiwula, whose shot flew wide of Craig Gordon’s right post.
At the other end Smith got a long distance shot all wrong after a decent Jambos build-up.
But County were getting a lot of joy down their left as they looked to put pressure on Sibbick.
Edwards got in again soon after and set up Purrington, whose shot was blocked by Nat Atkinson.
But it was a warning for Hearts, and they got another one in the 23rd minute.
Purrington’s pass once again played in Edwards down the left hand touchline.
His instant cross picked out Samuel whose header beat Gordon but came back off his left post.
Edwards wasn’t done, though, beating Atkinson superbly as County came forward again a moment later.
This time his curling effort came back off the bar with Gordon again a spectator.
Hearts were rocking, and Atkinson hobbled off in the 28th minute to be replaced by summer recruit Jorge Grant.
That saw Smith move over to the right to allow Grant to slot alongside Haring.
It also meant the Irishman could offer support to Sibbick, who was having a torrid time.
Gordon did well to stop Hiwula’s effort on the half hour as the Staggies pressure continued.
And the keeper held a header from Josh Sims from another cross from the left in the 36th minute.
Forrest tried to lift the mood before the break as he jinked into the box before being denied.
Smith then almost got on the end of a McKay shot but was unable to hit the target.
But the half-time whistle was greeted with a mixture of boos and relief from the home crowd
Hearts came back out with a sense of urgency, led by Forrest.
He forced Jack Baldwin to take the game’s first yellow card for a tug as he looked to break forward.
Then he saw a shot cleared off the line by Connor Randall after good play inside the County box.
And so it figured that if and when Hearts were going to take the lead he’d be at the forefront.
And that’s exactly how things panned out on the hour mark.
Good play involving Haring and McKay helped the ball out to Cochrane down the left.
And when he drilled a low ball across goal Forrest was there to turn past Laidlaw from six yards.
Laidlaw hed a shot from Haring as Hearts finally began to enjoy the upper hand.
But County were still a threat, with Ross Callachan testing Gordon in the 66th minute.
Purrington was the next to be booked for a pull on sub Grant a minute later.
Liam Boyce replaced Shankland in the 71st minute, the new boy having had a quiet debut.
And it was McKay who stepped up six minutes later to seemingly secure all three points.
The winger pounced on Craig Halkett’s clearance with his neat touch taking him past two Staggies’ men.
And he danced past Laidlaw and turned the ball into the empty net.
Sub White, though, got County right back in it as he raced through in the 79th minute.
The striker kept his composure as Gordon raced off his line, prodding home from close range.
But Hearts showed the depth they have by bringing on Cammy Devlin and Andy Halliday to shore things up.
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County were unable to carve out another chance as the men in maroon stood firm.
And Baldwin, who had already been booked, was lucky to get away with another tug on Boyce.
WHAT THEY SAID
ROBBIE NEILSON ON ALAN FORREST
“Alan is going to bring goals and assists. The reason we brought him here is he’s direct, he goes at people and he makes things happen.
I think he’ll be an extremely good player for us.
I like his career path, I think he’s the kind of player Hearts should be signing.
He went to Ayr United and did really well, he made the step up to Livingston and did well there.
Now he’s at Hearts and you can see he has the quality to go up to the next level again.”
MALKY MACKAY ON HIS TEAM'S DISPLAY
“I’m proud of the players that we gave the performance we did.
The first half was absolutely terrific but I knew with the amount of chances we had we had to take them.
If we had gone in at half-time 2-0 up it would not have been unfair on us. They had to change their shape and we knew they’d come at us.
There are one or two things I think we could have done differently to deal with that.
But we had seven debuts today and I am delighted for them they got a taste of what this league is like and I think they can adapt to it.”
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