Date	Saturday, 30 July 2022
Competition	Scottish Premiership
Fixture/Score	Heart of Midlothian 2:1 Ross County
Venue	Tynecastle Park
Attendance	18,202
Referee	David Dickinson
Comments	Match Report Report by Jack Herrall for the BBC. Heart of Midlothian 2 Ross County 1 Hearts manager Robbie Neilson says his side need to step up their intensity despite opening their Scottish Premiership campaign with a home win against impressive Ross County. Alan Forrest's goal on the hour wiped out County's momentum and Barrie McKay added a second thanks to a sensational first touch. Jordan White's reply made it a nervous final 10 minutes, but Hearts held on. "In that initial stage of the game our intensity wasn't there," said Neilson. "We eventually got a foothold in it and started to take a bit of control and in the second half we were a bit more like ourselves." While the stats may not suggest so, County were by far the better side in the opening half, with Owura Edwards' cross finding Dominic Samuels, whose header smacked off the post. Moments later Edwards hit the woodwork with a looping shot. Hearts had chances of their own with Lawrence Shankland going close from range before McKay failed to get a toe on a Michael Smith cross. After the break Forrest twice threatened before going one better and giving the home side the lead. Alex Cochrane fizzed in a low cross for the winger to turn home from close range. A simple pass over the top began the move for Hearts' second. McKay watched the ball drop over his shoulder and pulled it down with a delicious first touch to take two defenders out of the equation. The attacker then did his initial touch justice with his finish. It was a nervy ending for the home side after White latched on to a lobbed pass to smash beyond Craig Gordon, who seemed to be caught in two minds when dealing with the shot. It's not a stretch to say that County had Hearts' number in the first half. The attacking quartet of Edwards, Samuels, Jordy Hiwula, and Josh Sims were buzzing around Hearts defenders relentlessly. Edwards in particular looks like he will be a big player for Mackay's side this season. Hearts' defence was lacking Stephen Kingsley and with John Souttar now away to Rangers, their often-reliable back three looked ragged in the opening 45 minutes. Despite not joining fellow summer signing Forrest onthe scoresheet , Shankland looked like a man with a point to prove in the Premiership. Hearts manager Robbie Neilson: "I'm delighted to get three points in our first competitive game, especially as it was against a team that have had four already. "We need to get up to speed but I thought the second half we were getting there. We're coming into the first competitive game of the season and they're always a wee bit slow at times." Ross County manager Malky Mackay: "It was not the result we were looking for but the performance certainly was what we were looking for. First half we were terrific, really took the game to them. "We had wonderful chances and I was disappointed we didn't come in two goals up at half-time. We got back into it again against a good team and overall I'm very proud. I said to them in there if you keep playing like that we'll be okay."
Ross County
Manager	Malcolm (Malky) Mackay
Starting 11	1: Ross Laidlaw, 2: Connor Randall, 3: Ben Purrington 1, 5: Jack Baldwin 1, 6: Alexander Iacovitti, 7: Owura Edwards, 8: Ross Callachan, 9: Dominic Samuel, 11: Joshua Sims, 19: Jordy Hiwula-Mayifuila, 22: Jordon Tillson
Bench	31: Jake Eastwood, 10: Yan Dhanda, 12: Callum Johnson, 14: Victor Loturi, 15: Keith Watson, 16: George Harmon, 17: Kazeem Olaigbe, 24: Benjamin Paton, 26: Jordan White 1
Heart of Midlothian
Manager	Robbie Neilson
Starting 11	Craig Gordon, Craig Halkett, Kye Rowles, Toby Sibbick, Michael Smith, Peter Haring, Nathaniel Atkinson, Alex Cochrane, Lawrence Shankland, Alan Forrest 1, Barrie McKay 1
Bench	Jorge Grant, Liam Boyce, Gary Mackay-Steven, Ross Stewart, Cameron Devlin, Andrew Halliday, Lewis Neilson, Connor Smith