Hearts started encouragingly, with Fyssas and McCann working neatly together and Jankauskas leading the line well, holding ball up and bringing the rest of the team into the game.

Nothing brilliant but the Jambos were firmly in control and looking strong and confident. And when a fine inside ball by McCann put the overlapping Fyssas clean through on goal, he struck it home low and true off the far post.

This is brilliant. It takes me back to the halcyon days of last season and the time when the sum of our worries was: '''That Takis Fyssas, he is so desperate to score for Hearts I wonder when his goal will come'. At the end of last season I voted Fyssas my favourite player of the year and I for one am absolutely delighted for him. He looked much more like his old self , fit and reading the game well and linking up with midfield. And later in the game he began to have a ball..

Hearts were in complete control and with Motherwell struggling to get out of their own half, you could have sworn it was a year ago. Here's where reality strikes to stop us getting carried away.

Our perpetually manipulated back four is a bit ropey, folks - and as soon as the two Motherwell forwards started their run through the middleand the ball was played out wide, my heart was in my throat. The equaliser looked inevitable and so it was; the ball was squared, the Hearts defence posted missing and Craig Gordon had no chance as Motherwell's Paul Foran clipped the ball into the net. He got a hand to it but it was not enough to keep it out.

I am not sure who was to blame for that goal, I just thought it was far too easy a goal to lose. Gordon, however, knew exactly who was the guilty party - directing his disgust at Zaliukas.

So this is where we are in our recuperation. It is still very early days and that goal knocked the stuffing right out of Hearts for the rest of the half. Up to the break the football was again pretty dire; Motherwell were not bringing much to the party but the Hearts malaise was a familiar one, namely their inability to connect with each other.

HT: HMFC 1 Motherwell 1

At t half time I pondered over the atmosphere in the ground. There had been a some chanting in support of Pressley but I think we had more or less accepted the inevitable and just wanted the team to succeed. We were not exactly buoyant but at least we were behind the team - all of them.

One guy a few seats behind me decided he would launch a vicious attack on the opposition strike force. To the tune of such an uncivilised gem as ''You're going home in a f***ing ambulance'', this chap coined the classic ''Ginger hair is unacceptable''. Which served to remind me how much the game has civilised itself over the last 20 years - unless you are ginger, that is.

Somebody, let's hope it was Ivanauskas, had a word with the team at half-time, as a result of which Hearts were back to the way they started the game, again looking confident and hungry. That said, games turn on a split second, a mistake, a knife-edge. The Jambos had a free-kick on the left about 40 yards out, a decent opportunity to send in a dangerous cross. Aguiar sent the ball raking into the box with venom, it struck Motherwell defender Paul Quinn's head and left the goalie no chance and nestled into the top corner.

Given the frailties of the Jambos defence and our fragile confidence, it is easy to see how if that had not gone in, the game could have petered out to another depressing scoreline for Hearts. It did go in, though, and the important thing is that we made the most out of it.

The next 15 minutes saw Hearts play Motherwell right out of the game with another two goals. The first came from a precise ball clipped through the centre into that space behind the defence and in front of the keeper. The keeper tore out but Velicka got there first. He had a choice - to go round the goalie or take the sometimes more risky route of trying to lob the ball over him. He went for the lob which he executed perfectly (makes me think that a couple of weeks ago it would have gone over ). The response from the crowd was tumultuous; it was the first time in a couple of months that the Hearts support has witnessed a goal that they knew was the winner!

The Jambos were now in full flow, with Aguiar running the show in midfield and both flanks working pretty well. Fyssas and McCann were really enjoying themselves down the left, and while Miko and Barasa were a bit more industrial on the right, the balls were coming into the box just the same.

When Hearts were awarded a free kick about 30 yards out, slightly to the left of goal, I was sitting in the perfect position high above the goal. I could see the Motherwell wall was not positioned as well as it could have been, the obvious shot being to curl the ball round the left of the wall and into the bottom corner. That is exactly what Aguiar did - a splendid goal indeed. The keeper scrambled across but just couldn't make it.

 McCann missed a sitter when he skewed a point-blank header wide and over, which was a pity because it would have capped a pretty good Tynecastle comeback game for him. Miko also had a decent chance to make it 5-1 but it was one of those where he had too much time and he ended up in two minds, making it easy for the goalkeeper.

So it was a great result for Hearts in the end and the kind of game which can start a good run. We certainly need it.

FT: HMFC 4 Motherwell 1

Further discussion at Jambos Kickback