Kilmarnock 1-0 Hearts: Player ratings, what went wrong, ineffective areas, throwing bodies up front

Hearts’ Premiership title challenge stuttered at Rugby Park as Michael Schjonning-Larsen’s first-half goal earned Kilmarnock a deserved victory. While this result pushed the hosts up to joint-10th in the league and eased some of their relegation fear, it also left the Edinburgh club just two points ahead of second-placed Celtic instead of five.

Kilmarnock produced a determined and industrious display which saw them ahead at the interval. Hearts were the better team after the break, but they could not source an equaliser despite mounting pressure. The visitors lacked creativity for much of the evening. They were unable to supply forwards with clear scoring opportunities and Kilmarnock defended with plenty spirit once in front.

The night ended with Hearts’ fifth loss of the season, all away from home, making the Premiership title race even tighter. Celtic’s win over Motherwell on Saturday afternoon brought them to within two points of Hearts at the top of the table, thus applying some pressure on the Tynecastle side. Head coach Derek McInnes named an unchanged team back at his former place of work, with an away crowd exceeding 4,000 packed into Rugby Park’s Chadwick Stand. As always, the Gorgie boys made plenty noise - but their team didn’t provide much to cheer on this occasion.

Kilmarnock threatened first through on-loan winger Findlay Curtis. His dflected shot from 20 yards rebounded off the left post of Hearts goalkeeper Alexander Schwolow. The hosts did score on 17 minutes, however, with the visitors momentarily falling asleep. Defender Robbie Deas was allowed time to stride forward from defence and play a penetrating pass to striker Joe Hugill, who laid off to David Watson to then move the ball out to Greg Kiltie on the right. His cross to the back post found unmarked left-back Schjonning-Larsen for a simple conversion.

Hearts responded with Claudio Braga’s run and shot which stung the palms of Kelle Roos in the Kilmarnock goal. The Portuguese moved to a left-wing position after McInnes switched from a 4-4-2 system to a 4-3-3. It was designed to combat Killie’s midfield control, a result of them having an extra body in there. Within moments, McInnes was forced into a change in that area when Tomas Magnusson departed following a clash of heads. The fit-again Oisin McEntee replaced him.

Braga would certainly have had a penalty had he gone down when tripped as skipped past Deas inside the hosts’ penalty area. The Hearts player stumbled but tried to stay on his feet to continue running with the ball towards the byline. Referee David Dickinson did not stop play despite Braga being impeded and the away end could only lament the chance of a likely equaliser escaping.

The sharpness and energy shown by Kilmarnock was evident throughout the first period. It earned them a deserved interval lead - and begged the question of whether they could maintain such an approach after the break. They never allowed Hearts to settle into any rhythm and swarmed them whenever they had possession. Midfielder Aaron Tshibola was one of their most influential players.

McInnes responded by replacing ineffective striker Landry Kabore with winger Islam Chesnokov during the interval. That meant Braga playing as a central striker again, flanked with two wingers in Chesnokov and Alexandros Kyziridis. Hearts began a period of concerted pressure in search of an equaliser. They camped in Killie’s half and delivered several crosses to no avail.

Jordi Altena and Sabah Kerjota were introduced as subs, however the home team stood firm. They were pressed back for long spells and handled the situation to see out an important win - despite Hearts throwing Braga, McEntee, Craig Halkett, Frankie Kent, Chesnokov and Elton Kabangu up front at one stage in the dying moments.

Here are the Hearts player ratings from Rugby Park: