© EuroFootball.com
In the Scottish Premier League on Saturday, six matches of the 14th round were played. Despite another week full of unexpected events after losing in the Edinburgh derby, Hearts club bounced back with a resounding victory at home, while the second capital team Hibernian achieved their sixth consecutive away win. Meanwhile, defending champions Rangers lost another two points.
Edgaras Jankauskas, who was disqualified, could not help the Hearts team, while Deividas Česnauskis remained on the bench. On the other hand, Saulius Mikoliūnas returned to the starting lineup after a long break.
21-year-old Mikoliūnas played for the Edinburgh team for the first time in over two months, and he started the match actively, making a goal-scoring pass in the 3rd minute by sprinting from midfield to the penalty area and passing the ball to Paul Hartley, who scored with a precise shot from about twelve meters to put his team ahead.
In the 25th minute, Hearts doubled their lead with a goal from their top scorer Rudis Škacel, whose penalty shot went through all the players and landed in the goal. This was the 10th goal by the Czech international defender in the Scottish league this season.
In the second half, initiative was taken by Dundee United, but they failed to score, and Hearts sealed the victory with a goal from Michal Pošpišil, who received a pass from P. Hartley and sent the ball into the net from close range. The visitors later missed an 11-meter penalty, but with eight minutes remaining, M. Pošpišil hit the crossbar after a pass from S. Mikoliūnas.
The result remained unchanged, and with their 11th win, Hearts returned to the top of the league table with 35 points, temporarily surpassing Glasgow Celtic, who will play their match against Falkirk away on Sunday.
Just one point behind Celtic is Edinburgh Hibernian, who recovered from a missed goal against Livingston away and scored twice in the last seven minutes to secure three points and their sixth consecutive away win. Eight points behind Celtic is Glasgow Rangers, who were unable to break the resistance of Aberdeen at home and played to a goalless draw.
Kilmarnock snatched a draw against Motherwell in a close away match, where the visitors took the lead with a goal by K. Boyd early on, but the hosts managed to equalize the score. However, K. Boyd managed to equalize the score in the last minute. In the final match of the day, Inverness beat Dunfermline 2-1.
Results of the 14th round:
3 - 0
3` [1 - 0] Paul Hartley
25` [2 - 0] Rudi Skacel
56` [3 - 0] Michal Pospisil
2 - 1
4` [1 - 0] Ian Black
8` [2 - 0] David Proctor
72` [2 - 1] Lee Makel
1 - 2
41` [1 - 0] Greg Strong
83` [1 - 1] Jay Shiels
86` [1 - 2] Gary O`Connor
2 - 2
8` [0 - 1] Kris Boyd
23` [1 - 1] Scott McDonald
53` [2 - 1] Brian Kerr
90` [2 - 2] Kris Boyd
0 - 0
