A spirited Hearts B side went down 4-1 against East Fife at Bayview on Tuesday night in the first group stage match of the KDM Evolution Trophy.
Angus Beith freshened up the side for the trip to Methil, with Harry Stone, Taylor Hogarth, Stanley Wilson and Tommy North coming into the side from Friday’s League defeat to Cumbernauld Colts.
It was a daunting task for the Wee Jambos, against an experienced SPFL outfit and Stone was called into action early on to deny Tommy Goss from opening the scoring inside 30 seconds, tipping his back post header round the post.
Hearts weren't fazed by that early scare and they opened the scoring on seven minutes, after Connor Dow forced a mistake from the East Fife backline and he slipped in North, who made no mistake with a finish back across goal.
The home side were extremely direct in their play, but for much of the early exchanges, the Wee Jambos defended their box excellently, heading away many of the crosses into the box.
It wasn’t a first 45 full of openings, but Stone was again called into action again on 25 minutes, tipping Alan Trouten’s effort round the post, after the East Fife midfielder had played a smart one-two with Robert Jones to get in behind the Hearts backline.
Just as it looked like the Jambos were going to head down the tunnel with a half-time lead, Mamadou Bah headed home a corner from the right in the final minute of the first period to ensure parity at the break.
Half-time: East Fife 1-1 Hearts B
The Wee Jambos almost repeated their first half start with an early goal after the break, but Bah was on hand to clear Hogarth’s effort off the line, after a clever run from Gus Stevenson to take the ball away from the Trialist in the East Fife goal.
The home side continued to be a threat from set plays and Bah again was first to make contact from a corner, but this time he didn’t get enough on the ball and his glancing header went wide of the far post.
Hearts still created chances of their own however, with the front three looking particularly dangerous and after substitute Callen Robb sprung the offside trap down the right, his cut back was just too far in front of Dow and the chance was gone.
Nathan Austin had made a difference at half-time for the home side, and he put the game to bed with two goals in nine second half minutes.
Firstly, the striker chopped in off the right wing to curl home left-footed, before Ewan McLeod put the ball on a plate for Austin to tap home at the back post on 72 minutes.
The Wee Jambos kept working, but it was the experienced hosts who added a fourth as Austin bagged his hat-trick with just under five minutes remaining.
East Fife: Trialist, McLeod, Newton, McManus, Trouten ©, Latona, Munro, Bah, Culbert, Goss, Jones
Subs: Thomson, Millar, Norey, Slattery, Austin, Peggie, Nicol, Gordon
Hearts B: Stone, Crookston ©, James (Smith, 75), Smutek, Osborne, Gillies, Dow (Plank, 75), Hogarth (Muirhead, 65), Stevenson, S. Wilson (Walker, 65), North (Robb, 60)
Subs: Lyon, Smith, Ross, Plank, Muirhead, Sanders, Walker, Robb, Kelly
Speaking to the Official Hearts Website at full-time, B Team head coach Angus Beith said:
"There was loads of positives in the first half. I thought we looked such a threat, particularly in the attacking transition moments.
"We looked like we were going to get an opportunity every single time we regained the ball high and regained it in central areas, so it was really pleasing to see that come off, having talked about it through the week as well and having that as a real focus through the week.
"I thought we defended our box magnificently, which is something that we haven't always done last season and for moments this season as well so really pleasing things in the first half.
"Disappointing obviously to lose the goal going into the second half from the set play and then we just didn't manage moments of the game in the second half very well. We were under a wee bit of pressure and it's small errors that cost us, but it's good experience for them to feel that against such a a good level of opposition better than we usually come up against. So, moments in the game and defending those better and then also as well Callen had a chance to go 2-1, but a really good experience for them.
"I think that shows that they're taking on the information in the video analysis room and then when we go out onto the pitch and explain the game plan in a little bit more detail, but a big part of that is then going and executing it and a lot of them are great at answering stuff in the video analysis room, but it's about, executing in the game and they did that for the most part obviously the first half.
"Some real pleasing bits and what they just need to get better at is just managing periods and moments in the game together and individually a wee bit better."
