Hearts B were defeated 3-0 by Albion Rovers on a disappointing afternoon at Cliftonhill on Saturday.
Angus Beith made three changes to the side that faced Celtic B on Tuesday as Macaulay Tait, Taylor Hogarth and Kai Smutek replaced Bobby McLuckie, Ryan Duncan and the injured Luke Rathie.
It was a scrappy opening 15 minutes in Coatbridge, with neither side able to really get their foot on the ball and dictate play. It was the men in maroon who were seeing more of the ball however and it was they who had the games first chance, with Gus Stevenson cutting in off the left wing before firing straight at Ross Connelly.
Hearts were punished for that miss as the home side went straight up the other end and opened the scoring as Dom McMahon fired home a cross from the left after 16 minutes.
The Wee Jambos are on a difficult run at the moment, but one of their more consistent performers this season has been Matty Gillies in the middle of midfield, he looked to lead the Hearts response, but he curled into the arms of Connelly at the end of a positive run upfield.
The men in maroon again came close to the equaliser on 28 minutes. Hogarth did well to get to the byline down the right, picking out Callum Sandilands with his pull back, but he opened up his foot too much and side-footed wide of goal.
It was déjà vu for Hearts, who were again punished as Albion doubled their advantage with the next attack. McMahon was again unmarked in the box, and he stooped low to plant a header beyond Jack Lyon.
Half-time: Albion Rovers 2-0 Hearts B
Dom Plank was introduced at half-time as Hearts looked for a way back into the game, but it didn’t really look like materialising and Jack Lyon did well to prevent Rovers grabbing a third, diving to his left to keep out Alexander McCaw’s effort.
The Wee Jambos dominated possession in the second half, but they struggled to fashion openings against Sandy Clark’s well-drilled Rovers side. The closest they came to clawing themselves back into the game was when substitute Bobby McLuckie dug out a cross for Sandilands and with Connelly beaten, his effort kissed the top of the crossbar.
It just hadn’t been Hearts’ day and their luck was compounded in stoppage time as Adam Fernie added a third for the home side in stoppage time to round off an afternoon to forget for the men in maroon.
Albion Rovers: Connelly, Fernie, Lavery, Reid ©, Kennedy, McMahon, McCaw, Kirkpatrick, MacKintosh, Okosun, Ross
Subs: Walker, Home, Paton, McMillan, Brown, Duncan, Scullion
Hearts: Lyon, Nair (Plank, 46), Smutek, Stevenson, Sandilands ©, Gillies, Ross, Crookston (Duncan, 78), James, Tait, Hogarth (McLuckie, 64)
Subs: MacDonald, McLuckie, Duncan, Plank, Muirhead, Burn
