Naismith sees penalty saved as Hearts are held by Livingston

Posted Sunday, September 23, 2018 by PA

Steven Naismith saw a penalty saved as Hearts lost their 100 per cent start to the Ladbrokes Premiership after a goalless home draw with Livingston.

Naismith had the chance to net his 10th goal of the season with the last kick of the first half, but Liam Kelly pulled off an excellent stop.

Hearts were looking for a ninth consecutive win, but visiting boss Gary Holt arrived at Tynecastle with a perfect record following his first three matches in charge and his side held their own to move above Celtic in the table, although the hosts hit the bar twice.

Hearts were without Uche Ikpeazu due to a knock, so Craig Wighton came in for his first start alongside Steven MacLean up front.

The hosts had the chance to extend their five-point lead at the top, but the team and home crowd were strangely subdued and the visitors quickly imposed themselves on the game. Dolly Menga got the first effort on target with Zdenek Zlamal pushing his 20-yard strike wide.

Peter Haring headed against the bar from Olly Lee’s free-kick at the other end, but Livi were soon back on top and created a string of decent chances.

Menga shot wide of the far post after being set up by Scott Robinson and Steven Lawless and Craig Halkett both had efforts saved following set-pieces.

Hearts were being pressed into mistakes in their own half and lacking any fluency going forward and manager Craig Levein had seen enough half an hour in, moving from the stand to the touchline to shout orders for the first time since his health scare late last month.

Hearts improved quickly but not significantly and Demetri Mitchell’s volley was diverted off target by the head of Scott Pittman, who extended his Livingston contract until 2020 just before the game.

The visitors were gifted the chance to go into the interval ahead when Kelly rushed off his line as MacLean chased Jimmy Dunne’s speculative diagonal ball and bundled the striker over. But the goalkeeper redeemed himself by diving low to his right to stop Naismith’s spot-kick.

Hearts still could not find any rhythm or control after the break, although Wighton came close early on when he glanced Michael Smith’s cross just wide.

The visitors themselves threatened on the break. Menga set up Pittman with Zlamal completely exposed, but the goalkeeper blocked the midfielder’s attempt to dink the ball home. The powerful and combative Menga later engineered a one-on-one with John Souttar and forced Zlamal into a save.

Hearts brought on Callumn Morrison, Arnaud Djoum and Jake Mulraney during the course of the second half, but they continued to lack any cutting edge.

The hosts had a late chance to claim the three points following Souttar’s driven cross, but MacLean hooked his effort off the top of the bar.