New boys fire Hearts to cup win

L Debut goals for Lee and Maclean as Premiership side sink Cove

Mcmanus 75 Recent signings Olly Lee and Steven Maclean netted debut goals as new-look Hearts made a winning start to their Betfred Cup campaign.

The Tynecastle side were in command for most of the game at Balmoral Stadium on the outskirts of Aberdeen and should have won in more comfortable fashion, but they were made to sweat towards the end after Paul Mcmanus pulled one back for Cove Rangers, the Highland League champions, with 15 minutes remaining.

Hearts manager Craig Levein gave first competitive starts to seven of his 12 summer signings – Zdenek Zlamal, Peter Haring, Olly Bozanic, Lee, Bobby Burns, Jake Mulraney and Maclean. Another three, Kevin Silva, Uche Ikpeazu and Ryan Edwards, were on the bench, with Steven Naismith, who was suspended, and Ben Garuccio the only new recruits not involved. Adding further freshness to the Hearts side was the sight of homegrown 19-yearold Callumn Morrison making his first start for the club almost three years after last appearing as a substitute. The youngster was deployed at right wing-back in a 3-5-2 formation. Unsurprisingly, there was no place in the Cove starting line-up for Cove midfielder Jordon Brown, who suffered a serious head injury in Sunday’s

0 Olly Lee, making his debut, puts Hearts ahead with a shot from the edge of the penalty box at Balmoral Stadium last night.

denied from close range by Mckenzie on the half hour but the offside flag was raised by the time Maclean turned in the rebound. The veteran former St Johnstone was then thwarted by Mackenzie from ten yards out.

In a rare Cove foray forward, Souttar timed a tackle to perfection as Megginson broke into the Hearts half and threatened to get himself clean through on Zlamal.

The defender was involved at the other end a minute later when his looping header was cleared off the line by Darren Kelly after Maclean’s presence had caused Mckenzie to flap at a high ball.

Hearts were denied by another goal-line clearance straight after the restart when Ryan Strachan stopped Bozanic slamming in the rebound after Mckenzie could only parry a Mulraney shot into his path following a blistering run from the impressive former Inverness winger.

A second goal looked inevitable

and it arrived in the 57th minute when Maclean prodded in from close range after Haring flicked on a Bozanic corner.

The visitors should have added a third on the hour when Lee played an incisive one-two with Maclean, burst into the box and rounded Mckenzie, but the former Luton Town midfielder rolled his effort against the post.

Hearts looked in total control until Mcmanus pulled one back for Cove when he tapped in with 15 minutes left.

That made for a finale slightly more fraught than it should have been for the Edinburgh side, considering the level of dominance they had enjoyed for most of the match.