Moilanen survives baptism of ice

Tepi Moilanen, the new Heart of Midlothian goalkeeper, admitted that even he was taken aback by the ferocity of the weather which marred his debut in Tuesday night's 1-0 win over Aberdeen at Pittodrie.

Coming from Scandinavia, the Finnish international might have been expected to be familiar with adverse conditions. But after 90 minutes of driving wind and rain in his first start for Hearts, he said: "The weather is interesting! It could be cold back home but never that windy. There was a hurricane at Falkirk during the warm-up but this was quite challenging! But hopefully it can calm down from now on."

On what was a difficult night for both goalkeepers, Moilanen made several good saves in a game which Hearts stole in the last minute with a Gary Wales goal.

"I was pleased to start with a clean sheet," Moilanen said, "and the lads are delighted with a win especially after Saturday's defeat at Falkirk. I wasn't that busy but I had a few saves to make and it was good to get going.

"I had a good save in the first half and it was pleasing to get that one out of the way. But we are a good team who had some good results before the winter break so there was a determination about the side."

Moilanen declined to compare the standard of football with that in the Nationwide First Division but revealed that his manager at Preston North End, Craig Brown, had wished him well on his departure from Deepdale.

"It's very difficult to compare things after only four or five days in Scotland. Saturday's game was a difficult football match for Hearts and against Aberdeen it was difficult because of the weather.

"But we seem to have some very good young players who are comfortable on the ball and try and play football. But it's quite difficult to judge because I'm concentrating on doing my own job at the moment."

For the Hearts manager, Craig Levein, victory at Pittodrie was some relief after the humiliation of their 4-0 defeat by the First Division leaders, Falkirk, in the third round of the Scottish Cup on Saturday.

Levein said: "I'm pleased for the players after the stick we took in recent days and I'm pleased for the fans because of the embarrassment they suffered after the Falkirk defeat.

"I didn't think the game was going to be finished at one point," he admitted, "and I think a lot of the guys in the dressing room have frostbite!

"It was an extremely difficult game but we worked hard and we tried to play football even though the conditions were terrible."