Hearts Win At Killie – Most Significant To Date?

Last night`s battling 2-1 win by Hearts through at Kilmarnock could in many ways be considered as their most significant result of the season to date.

The first match after the home defeat against St Johnstone last week – a bitterly disappointing result, especially given the massive opportunity that now exists for an outsider to win that tournament – many were expecting the Rugby Park encounter to as good as confirm that the Hearts bubble was well and truly burst after the recent run of nine SPL games unbeaten. And they had good reason to think so, too – our opponents had after all been on a great run of league form themselves lately and, given the fact that Hearts were without several key players who would normally be first picks in their starting line-up to add to the challenge of responding to the cup exit, the prospect of a draw before last night`s game was being viewed by many Hearts fans as being rather a favourable proposition given the circumstances.

However despite it seeming for long spells as though a point was going to be the very best they could muster from Killie, two late goals from substitute Stephen Elliott gave Hearts` league campaign another massive shot in the arm. It also kept their amazing away record going this season – it really is remarkable to think that they have won eight of their nine league matches on their travels, especially given that this used to be the team`s biggest weakness not all that long ago. It was also very nice to see some just rewards for Elliott, who has in my view been playing very well without the recognition he`s deserved?.scoring goals are the best way of ensuring that a striker gets that.

So now instead of everyone feeling a bit deflated after the promise of the form shown by Hearts in the run-up to Christmas, we now have the prospect of an absolute cracker at Tynecastle on Saturday when Rangers come to town. We always said that the run of games we had scheduled for this month would tell us a lot about what Hearts` realistic targets for the end of the season will be, and this game is now looking as though it will be absolutely pivotal. Another three points and the bandwagon rolls on to Parkhead next Wednesday, but a defeat arguably consigns us to finishing as ‘best of the rest` again, even if catching Celtic would still not be an impossibility. A draw certainly isn`t a disaster but let`s face it, what we all want is another win to keep this feeling of cautious excitement going?..!

But that`s Saturday. For the time being we should bask a little in the knowledge that JJ`s boys showed a hell of a lot of character coming away from last night`s game with three very hard-earned points. It shows that the team are capable of bouncing back from disappointments and picking up points without key players, which is something they`re going to have to demonstrate more often if they are to stay in the mix at the top of the league for much longer. Well done, lads!