Makenzie Kirk bagged four goals as Hearts B hammered Berwick Rangers 6-0 at Ainslie Park on Tuesday night.
The Wee Jambos returned to their new home for the first time in five weeks and manager Liam Fox made three changes to the side that faced Bo’ness United ten days ago.
Bailey Dall, Bobby McLuckie and Harry Gordon all came into the starting line-up in place of Macaulay Tait, Mackenzie Ross and the suspended Ethan Drysdale.
There wasn’t much between the sides in the early stages, but Berwick soon found themselves with a mountain to climb.
The opening goal arrived on 16 minutes, courtesy of the skipper, Luke Rathie. A short corner from the left saw the Wee Jambos have a three-on-two out wide. Ryan Duncan was the spare man, and his in-swinging cross was met by Makenzie Kirk. His header was saved by Callum Antell, but Rathie was the first to react and he tapped home from close range to break the deadlock.
The men in maroon doubled their lead on the half hour mark and there was a sense of déjà vu about it. Another short corner on the left, this time saw McLuckie get to the byline and his cut back was tapped home by Kirk.
The Wee Jambos’ number ten is having an excellent season up top, and he was on target again just two minutes later. The visitors lost possession midway inside their own half and with Ryan Duncan driving through on goal, he unselfishly squared it for Kirk to tap home for his second and Hearts’ third.
Into the second half and it was a similar story for the visitors, who started the second half brightly, but it was the Wee Jambos who bagged the fourth goal of the evening.
Antell had produced a save of the season contender to deny Kirk the match ball seven minutes after the break, but there was no stopping the Hearts striker on the hour mark.
It was another mistake at the back from the visitors. Antell was off his line and his pass was intercepted by Kirk. The striker controlled his volley expertly to keep it down and fire into the empty net, securing the match ball in the process.
20 minutes from time, the goal of the night arrived. Rathie’s through ball was dummied by Kirk, which sent Sandilands through on goal. He had a quick look up to see Antell off his line and brilliantly lobbed the Berwick stopper from at least 25-yards to add Hearts’ fifth of the night.
The game was beginning to peter out, and just when it looked like the scoring was done, the Wee Jambos added a sixth in the final minute of stoppage time.
McLuckie again skipped past his man down the left and his pull back was smashed home by Kirk to round off the scoring on a night where he took centre stage.
Hearts B: McFarlane, Dall, McLuckie, Sandilands, Kirk, Thomas (Ross, 60), Gordon, Nair, Forrester (Friel, 80), Duncan (Chisholm, 72), Rathie
Subs: McConnell, Friel, Smutek, Ross, Chisholm, Crookston, Walker
Berwick Rangers: Antell, Ellison, Bright, Mackay, McCormack ©, Klimionek, Taylor, Cummings, Graham, Barr, Lamont
Subs: Kay, Baker, Stevenson, Gaffney, Khyyam, Harris
