Pierre Landry Kabore raised his arms aloft to celebrate after side-footing the ball into the empty net. It was his second strike of the day for the Men in Maroon and he lapped up the adulation of the crowd.
The bustling striker claimed his first 18 minutes earlier and the glory double helped make up for the disappointment of having a late strike disallowed in the 2-2 draw at St Mirren in midweek.
The striker, who recently came off the bench to net a glory treble for Burkina Faso in a World cup qualifier, has waited patiently for his opportunity, and he earned his starting berth against Dundee after a cameo performance in Paisley. Derek McInnes, Hearts’ head coach, was impressed enough to name him in the starting line-up.
The player joined the Jambos after a prolonged transfer from Estonian club, J K Narva Trans, the deal having been held up by red tape. The 24-year-old has been in Scotland since July and he arrived with a big reputation after being top scorer in the Estonian top flight before putting pen to paper at Gorgie.
McInnes (pictured) hoped that Kabore would bring something different to his firepower, and the big, mobile and “versatile” player showed some if his qualities as Hearts dismantled disappointing Dundee in front of over 18,700 fans. Derek McInnes, Hearts’ head coach, said: “He let people know what he is all about.”
The Burkinabe forward struck after 38 and 57 minutes but he owes gratitude to Blair Spittal for his second, the former Motherwell player sending a curling left foot shot high towards goal. Credit Dundee goalkeeper, John McCracken who rose to palm the ball onto the post, but Kabore was in the right place at the right time.
So was Tomas Magnussion who netted after 80 minutes after bundling the ball home inside the six yard box following a corner. Earlier, club captain, Lawrence Shankland, had opened the scoring after hard-working Harry Milne found him unmarked at the edge of the box. The ball was fired low into the net. No frills, no fuss, typical Shankland. It was his tenth of the season. Time 31 minutes.
The Tayside team rarely threatened. Dundee captain Simon Murray did have the ball in the net only to fall foul of VAR. He was ruled to be offside and winger Cameron Cosgrove saw a shot deflected off the junction of the bar and the post seconds before the home side opened their account.
McInnes felt it was a good day at the office. He gambled by making three changes after six games with an unchanged line-up, one in defence, another in midfield and the third up front, and he emerged with three points.
The Tynecastle head coach declared: “We set a challenge to the players, can we be top of the table after the first round of fixtures?” He is. Now for Dundee United at Tynecastle also in the William Hill Premiership next Sunday.
Steven Pressley. Dundee’s head coach, said he arrived at Tynecastle believing they could get a result as, against some of the better teams – they beat Celtic 2-0 recently – they can be competitive.
He added: “One of the real disappointment for me is that we came into this game as the only side not to lose a goal from a corner kick. We lost two today.”
