Heart of Midlothian 2
Ayr United 0
League
Hearts |
2 - 0 |
Ayr United |
|
League |
 |
| Goalscorers | |
|
Armand Gnanduillet (72) Jamie Walker (86) |
None. |
| Team Managers | |
| Unknown. |
David Hopkin |
| Starting Eleven | |
|
C Gordon (G) 1 M Smith (D) 2 S Kingsley (D) 21 C Halkett (D) 26 M Popescu (D) 28 A Halliday (M) 16 Mackay-Steven (M) 17 A McEneff (M) 18 A Irving (M) 19 A Gnanduillet (F) 9 L Boyce (F) 10 |
Vijami Sinisalo .1 Aaron Muirhead Jack Baird .15 Patrick Reading .3 Jordan Houston Corrie Ndaba Luke McCowan Andy Murdoch .6 Tom Walsh Cameron Smith .14 Michael Moffat .7 |
| Bench | |
|
R Stewart (G) 13 (84) A White (D) 3 C Berra (D) 6 J Walker (M) 7 E Frear (M) 24 G Kastaneer (F) 29 E Henderson (F) 31 |
Peter Urminsky Sam Roscoe .5 Michael Miller Mark McKenzie Joseph Chalmers .18 Brett McGavin Dario Zanatta |
| Substitutions | |
| None. |
Joseph Chalmers for Tom Walsh (59) Dario Zanatta for Michael Moffat (73) Mark McKenzie for Cameron Smith (89) |
| Cautions | |
| None. | None. |
| Red Cards | |
| None. | None. |
| Match Officials | |
|
Colin Steven (Referee) |
Match Report
Hearts are 15 points clear at the top of the Scottish Championship after David Hopkin's debut as Ayr United manager ended in defeat.
It looked like Ayr would leave Tynecastle with a point in a drab game until Armand Gnanduillet headed in from close range following a free-kick.
Jamie Walker fired the second with four minutes remaining.
Hearts are now unbeaten in eight outings, while Ayr have only won one of their latest six.
Hopkins' side are just four points clear of bottom spot after Alloa Athletic's 3-2 win away to in-form Queen of the South.
Dunfermline Athletic are now Hearts' closest challengers for the title after a 1-0 win over Greenock Morton that lifts them a point ahead of Raith Rovers, with both Fife sides having two games in hand.
Hearts manager Robbie Neilson: "It's always difficult to break down an organised team. We never really felt under any threat and, second half, once we got the goal, we were much more comfortable.
"We are aiming to win every game and hopefully we can get over the line as soon as we can."
Match report written by BBC
Squad Statistics (as at March 13th, 2021)
| 2020-21 | All Time | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age | Nat |  |
 |
|
|
|
| Vijami Sinisalo (GK) | 19 |
|
23 | - | 23 | - |
| Patrick Reading | 21 |
|
14 | 1 | 14 | 1 |
| Jack Baird | 25 |
|
24 | - | 24 | - |
| Aaron Muirhead | 30 |
|
20 | 1 | 58 | 3 |
| Corrie Ndaba | 21 |
|
8 | - | 8 | - |
| Jordan Houston | 21 |
|
14 | - | 39 | - |
| Andy Murdoch | 26 |
|
23 | 1 | 72 | 3 |
| Luke McCowan | 23 |
|
23 | 6 | 64 | 15 |
| Tom Walsh | 24 |
|
11 | 3 | 11 | 3 |
| Cameron Smith | 25 |
|
16 | 5 | 16 | 5 |
| Michael Moffat | 36 |
|
24 | 3 | 191 | 62 |
| Joseph Chalmers (sub) | 27 |
|
24 | - | 24 | - |
| Mark McKenzie (sub) | 20 |
|
16 | - | 27 | - |
| Dario Zanatta (sub) | - |
|
14 | 1 | 14 | 1 |
League Table (as at March 13th, 2021)
No league table has been added for this season.