HEARTS responded from the disappointment of losing the opening goal to narrowly edge last night’s Europa League clash against Infonet.
It was an unconvincing performance against an Estonian team making their maiden appearance on the European stage.
But this was a Hearts side in their first competitive game of the season taking on a team that already have 17 domestic league matches under their belt.
Hearts conceded a dreaded away goal after 21 minutes when Jevgeni Harin exhibited his acrobatic skills after sweeping a stunning volley into the net from 12 yards.
Prince Buaben levelled from the penalty spot seven minutes later before Infonet captain Andrei Kalimullin scored an own goal 10 minutes before the break.
Hearts won but the tie is on a knife-edge ahead of next Wednesday’s second leg in Tallinn.
“The fitness aspect made it twice as hard,” conceded Hearts head coach Robbie Neilson. “We looked rusty in the first half an hour.
“These games are always difficult. When we saw them, we looked at the CVs – they’re a good team, guys with 100 caps.
“They have good players who have played at decent levels so we knew it would be tough.
“We’ve got a lot of guys who haven’t played any European football.”
Hearts, who handed debuts to Faycal Rherras and Conor Sammon, possessed enough quality but they were rough around the edges in their first competitive match of the season.
Infonet looked sharp although the chances they created during the earlier exchanges owed a lot to lapses in concentration at the back for Hearts.
Both Callum Paterson and John Souttar could have done better as Harin and Vladimir Voskoboinikov both got separate shots away, the second of which new No.1 Jack Hamilton dealt with comfortably.
After Juanma glanced a header inches wide, Infonet hushed the 14,000 home fans with the opening goal.
Dmitri Kruglov’s cross was volleyed into the in acrobatic fashion by Harin, the airborne playmaker finding the target from 12 yards.
But the hosts levelled seven minutes later after Icelandic referee Vilhjalmur Alvar Thorarinsson adjudged that Vladimir Avilov handled Juanma’s pass in the box, with Buaben sending the goalkeeper the wrong way from 12 yards.
Hearts then went ahead in the 35th minute after the unfortunate Kalimullin was credited with an own goal.
The Gorgie outfit should not have needed his kind donation after Paterson was guilty of missing a gilt-edged chance at the back post.
But by sending Jamie Walker’s corner back into the congested six-yard box, the ball ricocheted off the Infonet captain and rolled into the net.
Hearts struggled to create any clear-cut openings after the break. At the other end Hamilton had to look lively to repel Aleksandr Volodin’s effort.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel