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In the third round of the Scottish Cup matches on Saturday in Edinburgh, "Hearts" won at home against "Kilmarnock" after a fierce battle and advanced to the next stage of the tournament, but the victory was somewhat overshadowed by a injury to Edgaras Jankauskas.
In the starting lineup of the "Hearts" team, only one player changed from the unlucky match against "Celtic" - Saulius Mikoliūnas returned to the right side of the field in place of the injured Deividas Česnauskas, while Edgaras Jankauskas, who had been playing in attack, was very close to scoring in the 4th minute, but his powerful long-range shot hit the post.
"Kilmarnock" missed a couple of opportunities to score, and in the 24th minute the captain of the "Hearts" team, Steven Pressley, put his team ahead with a precise header after a long throw-in from Robbie Neilson from the sidelines. At the end of the half, the Edinburgh team lost E. Jankauskas - the Lithuanian had to leave the field due to injury and was replaced by Michal Pospech.
After the break, there was a struggle on the field, and the home team doubled their lead by replacing the tired S. Mikoliunas with Jamie McAllister, who scored from close range in the 75th minute following a pass from M. Pospech. With three minutes left, the away team's striker Colin Nish managed to reduce the deficit, but it did not save the "Kilmarnock" team from defeat.
In other cup matches the next day, Glasgow "Rangers" and Edinburgh "Hibernian" secured resounding victories against opponents from lower divisions, while in the second clash between Premier League clubs, "Aberdeen" managed to erase a two-goal deficit in the second half away against "Dundee Utd" and won 3-2.
"Motherwell" unexpectedly had to admit a three-goal superiority to the first league team "St Mirren", "Airdrie Utd" won a true thriller by scoring two goals in the dramatic ending of the match to defeat "Dunfermline" 4-3, meanwhile "Livingston" and "Inverness" will play additional matches after ending their encounters in draws.
