Barrie McKay cracked in a spectacular first goal for Hearts as they cruised past an unusually poor Livingston side to edge closer to confirming an inevitable third place. They moved 16 points ahead of city rivals Hibs, with their supporters already singing about the enticing prospect of meeting them twice in a week next month, including in the Scottish Cup semi-final.
Livingston are a side who have caused plenty of problems for many clubs this season as they continue to punch above their weight, and indeed took Hearts to a penalty shoot-out in the Scottish Cup, also at Tynecastle a few weeks ago, after a goalless draw.
But this was never in doubt as soon as Beni Baningime had scored his second goal in a week — after waiting five years to score his first professional one last weekend against St Mirren. And apart from an insignificant spurt after the break from Livingston, it really was one-way traffic towards the goal of the West Lothian side.
McKay was already the stand-out performer when he acrobatically smashed home a second-half volley. His previous goal was almost a year ago for Fleetwood Town against Doncaster Rovers. And Robbie Neilson, the Hearts manager, was pleased he’d broken his Jambos duck.
“The goal has been coming for Barrie for a while, Neilson said. “His performances have been outstanding and he creates loads of chances. I didn’t think it would be a tap-in when the goal came because he’s a top player and we are lucky to have him. I was behind it and when it left his boot, I thought it was going for the top corner. Hopefully, that might open the floodgates for him.
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“He’s been absolutely outstanding for us. I knew when the opportunity came to get him that I was desperate to get it done. Thankfully we’ve managed to get it sorted because we knew of his time at Rangers, down at Swansea and Nottingham Forest, he’s a top player. We’re lucky to have him here.”
It took Hearts until just the third minute to charge into the lead. Ellis Simms took advantage of slack marking down the left flank and his cross was cut back by Nathaniel Atkinson. The ball fell right in front of goal to Baningime who couldn’t miss. It took an excellent save from Livingston’s Polish goalkeeper Max Styyjek five minutes later to prevent the lead from being doubled when McKay threaded a perfect trough pass to Simms, whose shot was only kept out by sharp reflexes from the keeper.
Craig Halkett saw a volley deflected into the sidenetting as Hearts continued to dominate. However, the hosts suffered a blow in the first half when goalscorer Baningime limped off after a knee injury. Alex Cochrane replaced him. Hearts were playing some lovely, easy-on-the-eye football with Livingston barely able to get out of their own half.
After a half-time rocket from manager David Martindale, Livingston suddenly looked like their old selves — briefly anyway — and powerful forward Joel Nouble bolted forward 30 yards into the box before getting the ball stuck under his feet frustratingly before he could get his shot away. Then Alan Forrest tested Craig Gordon, the Hearts and Scotland goalkeeper, for the first time when he cut inside and cracked in a shot.
Hearts responded brilliantly though through the game’s real quality performer, McKay, and he clinched the points in the 58th minute. The winger had tormented the Livingston defence for much of the afternoon and he executed a magnificent high volley to perfection from an Atkinson cross to crash the ball into the top corner of the net.
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Martindale, who confirmed top scorer Bruce Anderson was almost certainly out for the season with an ankle injury, was also full of praise for McKay.
He admitted: “I think we are lucky to have Barrie McKay in the Premier League. He’s a fantastic player and I can’t believe he’s still not playing in the English Championship. If you look at his finish, it was unbelievable technique the way he’s connected with it. He’s a massive, massive threat.
“Hearts deserved the three points. In the first half, we were very lethargic, toothless, too passive, we gave them too much respect and we were playing as individuals today, but I was pleased with the second-half performance and the way they reacted.”
Star man: Barrie McKay (Hearts)
Hearts (4-2-3-1): C Gordon 7 — N Atkinson 7 (T Moore 83min), C Halkett 6, S Kingsley 6, A Halliday 6 (T Sibbick 83) — B Baningime 7 (A Cochrane 36, 6), P Haring 7 — A McEneff 7 (J Ginnelly 70, 3), L Boyce 7, B McKay 8 (B Woodburn 83) — E Simms 7
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Livingston (4-2-3-1): M Stryjek 7 — N Devlin 6, J Fitzwater 6, A Obileye 5, J Penrice 6 (A Lewis 74) — J Holt 5, S Pittman 5 (A Shinnie 74) — A Forrest 7 (C Chukwuemeks 63, 3), S Omeonga 5 (S Kelly 63, 3), O Bailey 5 (S Soto 63, 3) — J Nouble 7. Booked Omeonga, Nouble, Obileye, Devlin
Referee E Anderson.
Attendance 17,957
