Peebles Rovers 0

Tynecastle 4

Neil Hobson at Whitestone Park

PEEBLES Rovers kicked off their Central Taxi’s East of Scotland league campaign with a defeat, after a cold and ruthless Tynecastle notched four times without reply at Whitestone Park.

The last time these two sides met was in March, where Peebles snatched victory thanks to a delightful Jay Darling strike , but the tables were well and truly turned with an emphatic win that must surely highlight Tynecastle as credible challengers to Leith Athletics’ clutches on the East of Scotland league title.

Meanwhile, Peebles must tend to their wounds and put full concentration on their first away trip in the league, with a test against Heriot-Watt Uni at Riccarton tomorrow.

The game started, and indeed finished, with Tynecastle pressure with the seemingly unstoppable figure of Stewart Adams wreaking havoc amongst a disorganised Peebles defence.

Barely five minutes had registered on the clock before the men in maroon had tucked the first goal of the game past Ben McGinley. Robbie McIntyre had beaten James Dodds, his marker, too easily before dashing off for the by-line, hitting his driven-ball from the right hand side into the eager feet of Crabbe who bundled the ball past McGinley.

To their credit, Peebles immediately hit back with David Lindsay playing in former Tynecastle man Saul Schulz-Keith to go one-on-one with Ross McMullen, but a swift and highly impressive last minute tackle from Ryan Ferguson killed the attack before it could bear fruit.

Louis Swanson, who was a threat throughout the whole 90 minutes, was the next to scare for Tynecastle after a beautiful long-range strike smacked off the post.

If Tynecastle had landed the first punch through Crabbe’s opening goal, then Peebles finished the job by shooting themselves in the foot; a rash challenge from Peebles forward Chris Robertson on McIntyre inside the box following a Swanson corner resulted in referee, Paul Hanlon, pointing straight to the spot.

Dayne Robertson stepped up and sent McGinley the wrong way to put Steven Vinter’s men in the driving seat after 15 minutes.

A youthful Peebles side was always going to struggle against battle-hardened East of Scotland campaigners, but it’s a testament to the quality in the Saughton side that they went about their business in such a cold and clinical manner, with every player on the park with a definite understanding of their role.

No one exemplified this more than Crabbe, who notched his second goal of the match after another McIntyre ball put him through to crash into the Peebles box. With ice cool precision, he blasted the ball high into the net on 44 minutes to send Tynecastle back to the dressing room with a firm grip on the game.

A big response was needed from Peebles, but any hopes of a fightback soon evaporated as a penalty was conceded after just a minute into the second half after defender Jason Newell hacked Louis Swanson down in the box, prompting a yellow card and a second penalty kick from Paul Hanlon. Robertson, once again, was the grim reaper from 12 yards, as he planted a powerful strike to McGinley’s right to make it 4-0.

However, a defiant Peebles team refused to back down and retaliated quickly through former Edinburgh United striker, Lee Zavaroni who went on a long, surging run from the middle of the pitch to test McMullen with a low strike that forced a diving save out of the Tynecastle ‘keeper.

However, by this stage, the maroons were in control as Swanson, the beating creative heart of the team, pulled all the strings and orchestrated every remaining attack.

David Lindsay forced one final save out of McMullan before the ref blew for full-time and Tynecastle returned to the capital with all three points.

Peebles: McGinley, Dodds, Newell, Smith, Zavaroni, Ndiweni, Rossi, Lindsay, Schulz-Keith, Lindsay & Robertson. Subs: Cockburn, Inglis, McDonald & Marshall.