Hearts debrief: Sensational Smith; Ginnelly movement; Purple patch; Far from perfect

A look back at Hearts’ 5-0 demolition of Aberdeen at Tynecastle Park, a result that strengthens the Gorgie side’s grip on third place in the Scottish Premiership.

PLAYER OF THE MATCH

Michael Smith had probably his best game of the season and shades it from Toby Sibbick, Cammy Devlin and Lawrence Shankland. The veteran scored a stunning goal and had a big hand in Josh Ginnelly’s second goal too, threading the ball behind Aberdeen’s defence to put Shankland into crossing position. The other memorable Smith moment was his determination to chase Duk along the touchline and stop him in his tracks with a well-timed slide tackle in the first half. It was right in front of the Hearts dugout and main stand, generating a loud roar of appreciation.

DEFINING MOMENT

Michael Smith celebrates his stunning goal to make it 2-0. The 34-year-old also had a big hand in the fourth goal. Picture: Ross Parker / SNS

Smith’s goal was sublime, came out of nowhere and summed up the first half for Hearts. It wasn’t as if they carving Aberdeen open at will, but every time a chance did come along they were clinical and ruthless in front of goal. Toby Sibbick and Smith is an unlikely combination for one of the best Hearts goals of the season. The centre-back will probably not have made a better pass than the raking 60-yarder he pinged from ten yards outside his own box to pick out Smith ten yards outside the Aberdeen box. Smith had timed his run in behind to perfection, controlled beautifully and guided his left-foot shot into the net like a natural goalscorer. The defending was poor and Smith made it look easy, even if it was anything but.

YOU MAY HAVE MISSED

Josh Ginnelly’s brilliant movement makes the fourth goal and capped a wonderful performance from the striker. It’s worth watching again just to see how he outfoxed Ross McCrorie. His first movement is to run behind the Aberdeen centre-back towards the back post, but he quickly changes direction and gets across the front before McCrorie can react. The first-time finish at the front post from Lawrence Shankland’s low cross was excellent. It was textbook striker play.

BENEFIT OF HINDSIGHT

It is easy for supporters to get swept away by euphoria as the final whistle sounds at the end of a 5-0 win, but the margin of victory flattered Hearts. It wasn’t a perfect performance by any means. The first 10 minutes was fairly even, there were loose passes throughout the 90 minutes that went unpunished and the possession stats were only 55-45 in Hearts’ favour. It wasn’t total domination. Granted, the finishing in front of goal was clinical. Hearts had six shots on target and scored five goals, but it could have been more. Robbie Neilson’s team are enjoying a purple patch at the moment. The big refereeing decisions are going their way and recent results have been better than the performances. There is still room for improvement.

REF WATCH

Willie Column had a straightforward night, handing out just two yellow cards to Kye Rowles and Aberdeen striker Duk. The video assistant referee, Alan Newlands, made two big calls in Hearts’ favour and got both of them spot on. Aberdeen could have little complaints about the penalty awarded, after a VAR review, for handball by Liam Scales from a Robert Snodgrass, or the offside decision which denied them a late consolation.

WHAT’S NEXT

They don’t come much bigger than a Scottish Cup derby against at Easter Road. Hearts go into Sunday’s fourth-round tie in very good form and with the new year’s derby win at Tynecastle fresh in their minds.