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Successful start to the season of Edinburgh's "Hearts" continues - the "Lithuanian" club secured their third victory out of as many possible and became the sole leader of the league, the only club not to drop any points, as in the other match Glasgow's "Rangers" unexpectedly lost to "Aberdeen."
Supported by 5,000 of their fans on the road, "Hearts", who welcomed back E. Jankauskas after an injury, faced "Dundee Utd" and although the hosts had the first opportunity, the visitors took the lead in the sixth minute when S. Mikoliūnas was fouled and the team captain S. Pressley scored a penalty after a pass from R. Škacel.
In the 11th minute "Dundee Utd" missed another chance to score, and the unwritten rule "if you don't score, they will" repeated itself - the home team's defenders failed to clear the ball after a pass from Mikoliūnas and R. Bednar took the opportunity and shot the ball into the goal.
Later both teams exchanged missed opportunities, so the first half ended with a convincing two-goal lead for "Hearts." After the break, the team's coach G. Burley decided to substitute S. Mikoliūnas with L. Wallace, leaving D. Česnauskis on the bench.
In the 73rd minute E. Jankauskas was also substituted, and despite not impressing in this match, he received applause from the team's fans. He was replaced by M. Pospišilas, but the final point in this match was scored by another Czech, R. Škacel, who defeated the opponents' goalkeeper with a precise shot after a pass from R. Bednar.
In the other matches of the day, the defending champions "Rangers" had to admit defeat to "Aberdeen" away. After playing 37 minutes, the hosts were already leading by two goals, but shortly after D. Pršo and at the beginning of the second half, P. Lovenkrands equalized the result.
In the 55th minute, the Glasgow team was left with ten men as F. Ricksen was sent off the field by the referee. With a numerical advantage, "Aberdeen" extended their victory until the end of the match, with J. Smith scoring a great goal just a few minutes before the final whistle. So after the third round, "Hearts" lead the league, two points ahead of "Celtic" and three ahead of "Rangers."
Sunday results:
3 - 2
30' [1 - 0] Russell Anderson
37' [2 - 0] Steve Lovell
39' [2 - 1] Dado Prso
49' [2 - 2] Peter Lovenkrands
88' [3 - 2] Jamie Smith
0 - 3
6' [0 - 1] Steven Pressley
12' [0 - 2] Roman Bednar
90' [0 - 3] Rudi Skacel
