Heart of Midlothian 10, Cowdenbeath 0.

SPFL Championship Attendance-15,180 A SIMPLY disastrous day for Cowdenbeath, shipping goals and having a man sent-off.

The game at Tynecastle, on Saturday, was over by the interval and to be honest it was the sort of result that will have shaken confidence levels to the core.

With Cowden defender Lewis Toshney being sent-off with less than half an hour on the clock the Championship leaders simply went goal crazy in the last hour.

Toshney’s foul saw a penalty conceded and that incident turned a very difficult task into a completely hopeless one.

You had to feel sorry for Cowden ‘keeper Robbie Thomson. He conceded ten goals but never gave up and pulled off several good saves. But for him they could have shipped more.

The defence was simply ripped to shreds. Hearts had so much space they created chances at will and fortunately for the Blues the hosts did miss some.

The midfield were never really at the races yet again and when the side was reduced to ten it became a struggle to compete at all.

It was a day to forget, especially as it was a record defeat in the Championship and one of Cowdenbeath’s worst results in the modern era and saw three penalties conceded. Hearts scored 10 goals in 65 minutes which says it all. Cowden had competed pretty well in the first 25 minutes. Hearts did come out of the traps fast and they saw Jamie Walker go close in the early moments but there was nothing too worrying for the Fifers although two efforts did hit woodwork.

Then in the 25th minute Hearts got number one. Kenny Adamson played the ball with his arm in the visitors’ box and Genero ZEEFUIK slotted the penalty award past Thomson.

It was the start of a bad patch for Cowden with another goal coming in 27 minutes. Walker provided the ammunition for ZEEFUICK who fired home a fierce shot from around 19 yards.

Two minutes later came the pivotal moment. Billy King was tripped in the box by Toshney with and ZEEFUIK again did an expert job from the spot after the Cowden defender had been red carded.

It was all one way traffic and even this early in the game it was obvious that Cowdenbeath were going to be on the end of a heavy defeat.

Number four came in 33 minutes when Adam Eckersley did the spadework and Sam NICHOLSON fired a lovely shot past Thomson from just outside the box.

Cowdenbeath were at sixes and sevens and in 39 minutes the hosts went nap. Nicholson created the chance for WALKER whose finish was perfect from the edge of the visiting penalty area.

At the break Cowden replaced midfielder Chris Kane as they brought in centre-back and club skipper John Armstrong to try and stem the tide.

But the flow towards the Blue Brazil goal simply continued. The Jambos buzzed around the Cowden box and King saw his shot blocked but the sixth goal came in 56 minutes when GOMIS was fouled by Dean Brett and this time the former Blues’ midfielder converted the spot-kick.

On the hour number seven arrived. After Nicholson provided the chance Alim OZTURK fired home and then in 67 minutes it was 8-0.

After the ball was slotted into the Cowden box home skipper Danny WILSON was lying perfect to knock a right foot shot home.

With still 20 minutes to go it was pretty clear that more goals could come and number nine arrived two minutes later.

Sub Soufan Hassanoui laid on the opening for and Osman SOW fired the ball high into the net.

Could Cowden avoid losing ten? Alas the answer was no. However, they did get in a shot and colin Nish’s effort brought out a good save from Neil Alexander.

But number ten came in 74 minutes when SOW took a Keatings assist to beat Thomson.

With still 15 minutes on the clock the visiting fans were worried that more goals could come but Hearts took their foot off the pedal and Cowdenbeath kept working hard to keep them out. But it was an embarrassing day in the capital.

Hearts: Alexander (7); Paterson (7), Eckersley (7); Wilson (6), Ozturk (6), Gonzalez (7); Walker (7) (El Hassanoui 60 (4)), Gomis (7), Zeefuick (9) (Sow 59), Nicholson (8), King (8) (Keatings 59 (4)). Subs not used, Gallagher, Anderson, McKay and McGhee.

Cowdenbeath: Robbie Thomson (6); Dean Brett (5), Kenny Adamson (5); Thomas O’Brien (5), Lewis Toshney (2), Nat Wedderburn (5); Jon Robertson (5), Chris Kane (3) (John Armstrong 46 (4)), Colin Nish (5), Declan Hughes (5), John Herron (4) (Lewis Milne 71 (2)). Subs not used, Sean Higgins, Darren Brownlie, Kyle Miller, Kudus Oyenuga and Jamie Sneddon.

Referee-Bobby Madden (7).