Hearts boss makes his mark with Hull win

HEARTS 1 HULL CITY 0

IT'S virtually impossible to envisage Hearts beating an English Premier League side at any point last season.

That must be the yardstick with which to measure Csaba Laszlo's progress little more than three weeks into his new job. Yesterday at Tynecastle, a controlled and disciplined performance saw off Hull City, newcomers to England's top flight and useful friendly opponents just seven days before the SPL curtain rises.

Hearts, without being outstanding, look to be slowly gathering momentum in time for their season-opening fixture with Motherwell, whose manager Mark McGhee was an interested spectator in the directors' box. Defensive organisation allied to midfield composure and attacking industry made for an encouraging display in front of 5077 fans.

Also worthy of note is that yesterday's squad contained no new signings. Ugandan internationalist David Obua is awaiting news on a work permit therefore only youth academy products Johnny Brown and Ryan Wallace, who played as substitutes, could be considered fresh faces.

Laszlo is not yet fully satisfied, possibly recognising that the paucity of Hull's overall performance made his own side's task more straightforward. He bemoaned a lack of ruthlessness in front of goal and the apparent regularity with which attacks disintegrated.

But he must also be conscious not to overburden his staff. Wheels are gradually beginning to turn at Tynecastle and Laszlo has yet to mark a month off on his calendar since taking control. A similar rate of progress this time last year would have had Stephen Frail and others doing cartwheels along the corridors of Riccarton.

Audrius Ksanavicius scored the decisive goal on 33 minutes, a precise header from Ruben Palazuelos' cross. The Lithuanian had earlier missed a significantly easier chance when one on one with Hull goalkeeper Boaz Myhill, doubtless one of the instances Laszlo referred to when giving his post-match summary. "The most important thing was the discipline and the tactical discipline," he said. "At the moment I am not so happy about one thing – if we create a chance, we don't use the chance. We need more killer instinct to score. Normally a good player concentrates his whole body and muscle to bring the ball in the net. We must work harder in this department.

"I am unhappy we lost the ball in the offensive area too early. Here we have some problem with the ball control, to keep the ball, to build the game, to take time. We like to make everything too hurried but we can talk for two hours about this. If we win every game 1-0, I am happy.

"I am happy about Jamie Mole, I am happy about the guys from the academy. They showed their best face against an English Premier League team. You cannot forget this team was promoted to the Premier League and they have confidence. They came here with a team which cost over maybe £20-30million. They have invested a lot of money in the team and they have very expensive players.

"You see that, if you have discipline on the football field, you can compete all the time against these big names. After you win a game you can talk very easily about the opponents and your team but it's not my intention just now to talk very good about my team. No, I am not satisfied. We have a lot of work to do and I will be satisfied if we reach the end of the season at our target point. After winning a game you can never be satisfied. It's important to know we have potential and to take confidence from this game.

"I think if a coach is satisfied after one game he is in the wrong chair. I am satisfied at the end of the season if we have a position higher than eighth. Football is a very hard job, you can be very successful but this is not a joke. If you have discipline in the field maybe you can take the next step forward. Maybe you can play in the Premier League, maybe you can become a national player. My target is to get the players to understand what I need.

"I don't like players who don't move off the ball. I don't like players who forget their position on the field every five minutes. No, for 90 minutes they must be 100 per cent with the mind, with the brain, on the field. After I can say, okay, I am a little bit satisfied."

Whilst Laszlo pulled no punches, Hull offered little threat as an attacking force three years after these clubs last met in Yorkshire, when an Edgaras Jankauskas goal also secured a 1-0 win for Hearts. Even the experienced Nick Barmby and crafty Brazilian Geovanni Gomez, recently signed from Manchester City, could not perforate a water-tight home rearguard marshalled by Christophe Berra.

In contrast, Larry Kingston may finally have resumed his status as Hearts' most influential player. The African midfielder covered every blade of grass on the Tynecastle turf with an energy reminiscent of his early performances for the club back in spring 2007. When substitute Dean Windass did find the net for Hull, the strike was dismissed for offside, further frustrating the 39-year-old former Aberdeen forward who has never been short of a moan or 12.

"I don't know what was wrong with the goal but that's life," said Phil Brown, the Hull manager. "Had it been a 1-1 draw they might have been feeling aggrieved at conceding but the bottom line is pre-season friendlies aren't about results, they're about fitness levels and the pictures we're getting of new players. It's coming together slowly but surely, although we've got two weeks of hard work on the training ground to make sure it's ready for the 16th.

"I'm never pleased losing a game of football, but there's one or two positives and one or two negatives from the game. I thought we showed a little bit of a lack of intelligence in the first half the way we didn't expose the space. In the second half, we brought the old warhorse on and he tended to pull away on the shoulders of centre-halves and stretched the game a bit. That allowed us to play a little bit better.

"The final third was a little bit of a problem. We only threatened Hearts' goal on a couple of occasions with long-range free-kicks and follow-ups from there." The mastermind behind those set-pieces was Geovanni, who unleashed two thunderous drives in either half that almost knocked Steve Banks into the stand as he tried to stop them. Conceding would have been harsh on Hearts, however.

"The speed was very high and it was important to keep the score at 1-0," observed Laszlo. "In the last 20 minutes our opponents were never dangerous and this is important for the players' confidence. It's not only physical preparation that's important. Even here, in the brain, it's important to think clear. If you don't have the physical condition you can't think clear. Now, I think slowly, slowly, they understand what I mean.

"I think it was a very precious and very important win for the team. We now have one week and perhaps we can work a little easier. The confidence must be there because we lost against Wiesbaden and Kaiserslautern in Germany. The team spirit and the discipline I wish for is there."

As they proceed with virtually the same group of players that finished eighth last season, those components will become evermore valuable to Hearts.

Hearts (4-4-1-1): Banks; Thomson, Zaliukas, Berra, Driver; Kingston, Stewart, Jonsson, Palazuelos; Ksanavicius; Mole. Subs: MacDonald, Rapnik, Ivaskevicius 80 (for Thomson), Cesnauskis 89 (for Driver), Karipidis 58 (for Jonsson), Mikoliunas 71 (for Ksanavicius), Makela 79 (for Mole), R Wallace 86 (for Kingston), Brown 47 (for Palazuelos), McGowan.

Hull City (4-4-2): Myhill; Ricketts, Turner, Gardner, Dawson; Marney, Ashbee, Boateng, Barmby; Folan, Geovanni. Subs: Doyle, Windass 46 (for Folan), Duke, Garcia 68 (for Geovanni), Halmosi 64 (for Barmby), Cooper 85 (for Dawson), Fagan 60 (for Boateng), Hughes 80 (for Marney), France 85 (for Ashbee).

Referee: Calum Murray.

Attendance: 5077.