Hearts stay perfect in Conference League by beating Omonia Nicosia

Neil Critchley’s sure-footed begin as Hearts boss continued after a cushty 2-0 dwelling win over Omonia Nicosia maintained the Edinburgh facet’s good starting to their Convention League marketing campaign.

Buoyed by a 4-0 victory over St Mirren on Saturday within the former Blackpool and QPR supervisor’s first recreation since changing Steven Naismith, the Jambos made it two wins in as many matches beneath the Englishman as they eased previous their Cypriot guests with first-half targets from Alan Forrest and Blair Spittal.

Hearts, who stay joint-bottom of the Scottish Premiership with Edinburgh rivals Hibernian, are joint-top of the fledgling Convention League desk and firmly heading in the right direction to remain concerned in European competitors past Christmas for the primary time since reaching the quarter-final of the UEFA Cup in 1988-89.

Critchley – partly with Sunday’s bottom-of-the-table showdown with Hibs in thoughts – made 4 modifications to the facet that beat St Mirren as Adam Forrester, Stephen Kingsley, Cammy Devlin and Forrest changed Daniel Oyegoke, James Penrice, Beni Baningime and Yan Dhanda.

Omonia supervisor Valdas Dambrauskas had spoken forward of the match about his delight at being at Tynecastle the place so lots of his fellow Lithuanians – together with a number of to whom he was shut – performed throughout Kaunas-based businessman Vladimir Romanov’s reign as Hearts proprietor earlier this century.

Dambrauskas’ pre-match pleasure would swiftly have given option to trepidation as his workforce – having misplaced three of their earlier 4 Cypriot top-flight matches – made an abject begin within the Scottish capital.

Hearts signalled their intent when Spittal volleyed over from the sting of the field with simply 15 seconds on the clock.

Critchley’s fired-up facet threatened once more when Lawrence Shankland – who was booked after lower than three minutes for a excessive problem – drove menacingly into the field however the captain was unable to get a shot away.

The hosts’ aggressive begin paid off within the sixteenth minute when Spittal’s effort from outdoors the field deflected off Senou Coulibaly and Forrest pounced on the unfastened ball to lash a ferocious angled strike excessive previous Fabiano from eight yards out.

The guests have been struggling and so they required their goalkeeper to tug off a wonderful save within the twenty second minute when he acquired right down to his proper to tip Shankland’s low shot from 15 yards around the publish. From the ensuing nook, Frankie Kent headed large from contained in the six-yard field.

A minute later, Hearts doubled their lead when Spittal fired dwelling an emphatic right-footed end from 16 yards out after Shankland’s back-heel ricocheted properly into his path off Kenneth Vargas.

Spittal – having scored for the third match in succession – nearly added one other simply after the half-hour mark when he drove ahead and curled narrowly large from the sting of the field.

One of the best Omonia may muster earlier than the break was a few off-target headers from former Rangers defender Filip Helander within the closing phases of the primary half, both facet of two huge alternatives for Shankland.

The Cypriots improved within the second interval however hardly ever regarded able to getting again into the sport as Hearts set themselves up properly for a showdown with Bundesliga facet Heidenheim in a fortnight.