Scottish Championship: Leaders Hearts edge past Raith at Tynecastle

Alim Ozturk scored the only goal as Hearts maintained their 100% home record this season with a 1-0 victory over Raith Rovers.

The decisive moment came as early as the fifth minute when the defender fired home from outside the box after latching on to Billy King’s assist.

However, despite dominating possession following that early success, the Edinburgh giants struggled to create too many more chances during the remainder of the first half.

The closest they came to extending their lead before the break was when Soufian El Hassnaoui forced keeper David McGurn into a 39th minute save.

At the other end Raith conjured up a couple of chances themselves. First, on the half-hour mark, Paul Watson headed over while a Calum Elliot free-kick three minutes before the break was just too high.

The second half continued in the same vein, with Hearts having much more of the ball but unable to break down the determined visitors.

And the hosts were even forced to cling on during the last eight minutes when they went down to 10 men after Adam Eckersley suffered an injury, after all three changes had been made.

It was all Raith during the closing stages with Hearts keeper Neil Alexander saving from Elliot, Mark Stewart and Liam Fox.

And in the third minute of injury time Ryan Conroy fired over from outside the box leaving Hearts four points clear at the top of the table thanks to 10 wins from 12 Scottish Championship games.