Heart of Midlothian 5
Ayr United 3
League (Championship)
Hearts |
5 - 3 |
Ayr United |
|
League (Championship) |
 |
| Goalscorers | |
|
Kingsley (11'minutes), Wighton (68'minutes, 74'minutes), Lee (71'minutes), Boyce (81'minutes) |
Cameron Smith (57) Luke McCowan (60) Tom Walsh (90) |
| Team Managers | |
| Robbie Neilson |
Mark Kerr |
| Starting Eleven | |
|
1 Gordon 2 Smith 26 Halkett 6 Berra 21 Kingsley 8 Lee 19 Irving 16 Halliday 11 Roberts 10 Boyce 24 Frear |
Vijami Sinisalo .1 Jack Baird .15 Patrick Reading .3 Michael Miller Sam Roscoe .5 Luke McCowan Aaron Muirhead Joseph Chalmers .18 Andy Murdoch .6 Cameron Smith .14 Michael Moffat .7 |
| Bench | |
|
5 Haring 7 Walker 13 Stewart 14 Naismith 15 Wighton 28 Popescu 31 Henderson |
Ellis Hare Reid Jordan Houston Tom Walsh Mark Kerr Mark McKenzie Bruce Anderson .9 Dario Zanatta |
| Substitutions | |
| None. |
Bruce Anderson for Michael Moffat (58) Tom Walsh for Joseph Chalmers (78) |
| Cautions | |
| None. | None. |
| Red Cards | |
| None. | None. |
| Match Officials | |
|
David Munro (Referee) |
Match Report
Substitute Craig Wighton made the difference as Scottish Championship leaders Hearts kept up their title push with a thrilling win over Ayr United.
The visitors recovered from Stephen Kingsley's early 30-yard opener to lead with second-half strikes from Cammy Smith and Luke McCowan at Tynecastle.
But Wighton equalised soon after coming on and Oli Lee restored Hearts' lead.
Wighton added his second and Liam Boyce made it 5-2 before Tom Walsh netted a consolation with the final kick.
After the agony of their Scottish Cup final shootout defeat to Celtic last weekend, Hearts' fourth straight league win keeps them three points clear of Dunfermline Athletic with a game in hand.
Ayr drop a place to sixth after a third league outing without victory.
Hearts head coach Robbie Neilson: "At 1-0 up we were comfortable but we never managed to get into second gear. We then lost two sloppy goals and that fired us into life.
"The big concern for us was coming off the back of a big game and disappointment last week, we had to make sure we were back at it again. The main thing was to get a victory."
Match report written by BBC
Squad Statistics (as at December 26th, 2020)
| 2020-21 | All Time | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age | Nat |  |
 |
|
|
|
| Vijami Sinisalo (GK) | 19 |
|
13 | - | 13 | - |
| Patrick Reading | 21 |
|
7 | - | 7 | - |
| Jack Baird | 24 |
|
13 | - | 13 | - |
| Sam Roscoe | - |
|
13 | - | 13 | - |
| Michael Miller | 25 |
|
12 | 2 | 12 | 2 |
| Luke McCowan | 23 |
|
12 | 4 | 12 | 4 |
| Andy Murdoch | - |
|
12 | 1 | 12 | 1 |
| Joseph Chalmers | 26 |
|
13 | - | 13 | - |
| Aaron Muirhead | - |
|
10 | - | 10 | - |
| Michael Moffat | 35 |
|
13 | 3 | 13 | 3 |
| Cameron Smith | 25 |
|
6 | 3 | 6 | 3 |
| Tom Walsh (sub) | 24 |
|
2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Bruce Anderson (sub) | 22 |
|
10 | 2 | 10 | 2 |
League Table (as at December 26th, 2020)
| Pld | W | D | L | Pts | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Dunfermline Athletic | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| 2. | Raith Rovers | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 7 |
| 3. | Hearts | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 4. | Morton | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| 5. | Ayr United | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 6. | ICT | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 7. | Dundee | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 8. | Alloa Athletic | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 9. | Queen of the South | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 10. | Arbroath | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |