Hearts 0 Ferencvaros 1: A goal by Ferencvaros midfielder Denes Rosa after 30 minutes helped send Scotland's sole European survivors Hearts crashing out of the UEFA Cup in their Group A clash at Murrayfield last night.
Basel beat Feyenoord 1-0 in Switzerland to effectively render the game in Edinburgh meaningless, but it was still a disappointing night for the 26,182 fans who turned out.
Hearts had the better of the first half but were caught by a sucker punch on the half-hour mark when Rosa latched on to a Peter Lipcsei pass before scoring past Craig Gordon from close range at the third attempt.
After the break, the home side never really looked like hauling the goal back and in the end, Scotland were once again left without a representative in a European competition before the turn of the year.
Hearts dominated the early play and Paul Hartley had the ball in the net in the 14th minute but the goal was chalked off, probably correctly, for a handball by the former Hibs player just inside the visitors' box. But on the half-hour the home side were stunned when they conceded a goal. Ferencvaros midfielder Lipcsei, with plenty of time at his disposal, split the Hearts rearguard with a through ball which found team-mate Rosa unmarked inside the penalty area.
The Hungarian playmaker took two attempts to beat valiant Jambos keeper Gordon from close range, but eventually tucked the ball away from around eight yards out.
In the 66th minute Ferencvaros coach Csaba Laszlo was sent to the stand by referee Levan Paniashvili after something appeared to be said to the fourth official. It did not upset the Hungarians, who came close to making it 2-0 in the 75th minute when substitute striker Thomas Sowumni, on earlier for Marek Penska, crashed a close-range header off the top of the bar.
HEARTS: Gordon, Neilson, Pressley, Webster, Maybury, Stewart, Kisnorbo (Wyness 71), Hartley, McAllister (Pereira 62), de Vries, Weir (McKenna 79). Subs Not Used: Moilanen, Hamill, Berra, MacFarlane. Booked: Webster, McKenna.
FERENCVAROS: Szucs, Vukmir, Gyepes, Balog, Rosa, Lipcsei, Zavadszky, Leandro, Tozser (Huszti 50), Bajevski (Takacs 87), Penksa (Sowunmi 65). Subs Not Used: Udvaracz, Szkukalek, Somorjai, Bognar. Booked: Lipcsei, Zavadszky, Tozser, Leandro, Huszti. Goals: Rosa 30.
Referee: L Paniashvili (Georgia).
