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Replacing the dismissed Graham Rix, V. Ivanauskas made only one change in the team lineup compared to the last matches - Portuguese Jose Goncalves took the place of the injured Andy Webster. Deividas Česnauskis and E. Jankauskas were in the starting lineup again, while S. Mikoliūnas remained on the bench.
The Edinburgh team started the match actively and took the lead in the 21st minute - Rudi Skacel made a great run and, after breaking through the opponents' defense, passed the ball to Paul Hartley, who only had to send it into the goal. Later, E. Jankauskas had opportunities to double the lead, but initially his shot was blocked by defenders, and soon the Lithuanian national team forward almost reached a pass from his compatriot D. Česnauskis.
However, towards the end of the first half, after a handball by Roman Bednar in the "Hearts" penalty area, the match referee Alan Freeland decided to award a penalty kick, and although the visitors' goalkeeper Craig Gordon managed to stop the first shot by Alan Gow, on the second attempt the "Falkirk" forward equalized the score.
After the break, the injured "Hearts" captain Steven Pressley did not return to the field, and his place was taken by the young Christophe Berra, while in the second half, exhausted from the opponent's rough play, Rudi Skacel was replaced by Calum Elliot by V. Ivanauskas.
In the 80th minute, another visitor defender Robbie Neilson suffered an injury, but while playing with ten men, the victory for the Edinburgh team was decided by the duo of C. Elliot and E. Jankauskas. The Lithuanian quickly passed the ball to his teammate in a counterattack, the latter sprinted and passed it back to E. Jankauskas, and the forward managed to beat goalkeeper Mark Howard with a shot from seven meters - the ball rolled into the goal.
Five weeks after recovering from an injury, this was E. Jankauskas' sixth goal in five matches. "Hearts" celebrated an important victory and maintained a six-point advantage over Glasgow "Rangers" in third place, who also narrowly won at home against "Dunfermline". The only goal of the match was scored by defender Sotirios Kyrgiakos from Greece.
Edinburgh's "Hibernian" club suffered another defeat, this time losing 0-2 at home to the "Inverness" team and allowing "Kilmarnock" to retain fourth place, as they failed to hold onto a two-goal lead in a match against "Dundee Utd".
The match in Aberdeen unfolded similarly, where the local team initially led against the neighboring team "Motherwell" with a score of 2-0, but later conceded two goals and had to settle for a draw. On Sunday, in the last round match, league leader Glasgow "Celtic" played away against the underdog "Livingston".
Results of the 31st round:
2 - 2
13` [1 - 0] Steve Lovell
22` [2 - 0] Steve Lovell
45` [2 - 1] Brian McLean
48` [2 - 2] Richie Foran (pen.)
2 - 2
12` [0 - 1] Steven Naismith
17` [0 - 2] Steven Naismith
46` [1 - 2] David McCracken
50` [2 - 2] Derek McInnes
1 - 2
21` [0 - 1] Paul Hartley
45` [1 - 1] Alan Gow
80` [1 - 2] Edgaras Jankauskas
0 - 2
57` [0 - 1] Darren Dods
78` [0 - 2] Barry Wilson (pen.)
1 - 0
69` [1 - 0] Sotirios Kyrgiakos
League Table
