Sport

A cruel lesson for Hearts

HEARTS were given a cruel European lesson at Tynecastle in the preliminary round of the Cup Winners' Cup last night.

Fri Aug 23 1996 - 01:00

HEARTS were given a cruel European lesson at Tynecastle in the preliminary round of the Cup Winners' Cup last night.

A 59th, minute goal from Vinko Marinovic was enough to put them out of the tournament on the away goals rule.

Until then, Hearts had not done much wrong and led through a Dave McPherson header late in the first half, but their concentration slipped when they left Marinovic unguarded at a corner and he headed home.

Hearts did their best to prevent Red Star from settling into their passing game and chances were few and far between in a tense first halt.

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McPherson sent an ambitious 40-yard shot wide after a poor clearance by the Red Star defence.

Neil McCann and John Colquhoun came more and more into the match as the half rolled on and floated over some inciting crosses, but there were no takers

Hearts in front of goal.

Steve Fulton came close in the 28th minute, when he fired a 20-yard shot over after good approach work from the Edinburgh side.

Hearts increased the pace towards half-time, as it was clear Red Star were content to keep the match goalless to as long as possible.

In the 37th minute Dave Weir powered in a header from a Fulton free kick, but Zvonko Milosevic produced a wonderful save.

However, Milosevic had no answer a minute from half-time, when Gary Mackay's corner picked out McPherson and his header flew into the net.

Red Star tried a quick response, but Dejan Stankovic's 20-yard shot was brilliantly turned aside by Gilles Rousset.

Hearts almost grabbed a second on 3 minutes, when Colquhoun controlled a corner from Colin Cameron, but his fierce shot was beaten out by Milosevic.

Red Star responded and Rousset did well to keep out a shot from Darko Anic, McPherson completing the clearance by thumping the loose ball for a corner.

However, from Peric Ognjenovic's cornerkick Marinovic rose to head the bail into the net.

Hearts finished strongly, with McCann lashing a shot over the top and Colquhoun shooting wide from 25 yards, but the Scottish premier side failed to get behind a well-organised Red Star defence.