Heart of Midlothian gave minutes to a number of young players in Wednesday night’s outing in Kirkcaldy for Ross Matthews’s testimonial.

There were starts for Ryan Fulton in goals, as well as Adam Forrester, Kai Smutek and Macaulay Tait.

Callum Sandilands came off the bench at half-time and a flurry of second-half changes meant appearances for Henry James, Matthew Gillies, Bobby McLuckie and Gus Stevenson.

Hearts’ starting XI contained a number of first-team players but there was still no sign of the likes of Andres Salazar or Musa Drammeh under interim manager Liam Fox.

The Hearts starting XIThe Hearts starting XI (Image: BeFunky)

Blair Spittal opened the scoring but Lewis Jamieson equalised after the break.

By the time second-half substitutes Jack Hamilton and Dylan Easton scored late on to make it 3-1 to Rovers, Hearts had six teenagers on the park after a raft of second-half changes for both sides.

Hearts Standard was at Stark’s Park to see how the young players fared.

Standout shot-stopper

Unlike the other youngsters, Fulton is a fair chunk into his twenties but as we know goalkeepers very often develop into first-team players at a later age.

The 23-year-old has very much been third choice since his summer arrival from Hamilton Accies and was one of Hearts’ best players on the night, despite conceding three goals.

Before he was left helpless for Lewis Jamieson’s equalising volley, Fulton had saved well from Scott Brown and Callum Smith strikes from just outside the box.

Then he appeared out of nowhere to deny Paul Hanlon from close range when the former Hibs captain seemed certain to score.

In front of him, Adam Forrester and James Penrice played as inverted full-backs while 18-year-old Smutek partnered Craig Halkett in the centre of defence.

Left-sided, Smutek provided a nice balance to the partnership. He was comfortable on the ball, strong in the air and aggressive in his tackling.

He, Fulton and Halkett were the only three Hearts players to play the entire 90 minutes.

Midfield mixed up

Macaulay Tait started as the No.6 in Fox’s 4-3-3 but didn’t manage to get on the ball to dictate as much as he has done for the B team.

There was one moment near his own corner flag when he did well to retain possession under pressure, but he was often blocked from receiving the ball in the centre of the pitch from defenders.

Including for the opening goal, when he received a pass he probably should not have from Halkett, but a half-pass, half-tackle under pressure found Yan Dhanda who launched the attack.

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Hearts instead would often go direct – looking for the wingers to drag their opposing full-backs up the field for their own to attack the space.

A few times, it was a matter of merely aiming high balls over the top for Yutaro Oda to use his pace, which almost came off a few times.

Spittal continued his role from Sunday’s impressive display against Aberdeen and Dhanda started the game in the other No 8 slot.

Wholesale second-half changes

As often happens on these types of occasions, both teams made many substitutions and the game lost its structure. For example, in the second half Alan Forrest came on at left wing, moved to the right a minute or two later and finished the game up front.

Sandilands came on for McKay and Dhanda moved to the left wing. In the second half, James, McLuckie, Gillies and Stevenson were all among the changes.

The Hearts team that finished the gameThe Hearts team that finished the game (Image: BeFunky) McLuckie was positive on the left and came close to scoring when his direct running saw him race through on goal.

Andy McNeil saved and the ball broke to Stevenson, but the Raith keeper rose to deny the young Jambo on his first appearance for the first team.

It was Gillies who stood out in the second half for Hearts. He made a vital headed clearance seconds after coming on and later blocked well from Easton’s effort.

At 3-1, he burst out of defence in possession and played a lovely through ball for McLuckie who lifted his shot over the bar.