Levein’s in love after new signing Haring aids Hearts

Hearts manager Craig Levein expressed his “love” for Peter Haring after the summer signing scored twice in a 4-1  triumph at Hamilton.

Levein has handed the Austrian an unfamiliar midfield berth and the former SV Ried centre-back responded with two cool finishes on his Ladbrokes Premiership debut.

Haring headed home Steven Naismith’s cross three minutes after Mikel Miller gave Accies a 17th-minute lead and he made it 3-1 when he stroked home after a 58th-minute set-piece.

Levein, whose side were dominant in the second half, said: “We signed him as a centre-back but he has played all the time as an attacking midfielder. And you can see his second goal, the composure he showed with all those bodies in front of him, to pick out the corner.

“But I love him, he is so honest and wholehearted in everything he does – every tackle, every header. He is a dream, low maintenance, you don’t need to worry too much about him.”

Another summer signing, Steven MacLean rounded off the scoring in the 62nd minute after linking up with Uche Ikpeazu.

It was the 35-year-old’s third goal in four matches and Levein admits MacLean’s contribution has exceeded expectations, not least because he latterly did not play on artificial pitches for St Johnstone because of previous knee problems.

“He’s a fantastic football player,” Levein said. “I have always liked him since he was a young kid at Rangers, very clever, and he helps link the play. He’s a good foil for Uche and Kyle (Lafferty) as well.

“I didn’t expect him to play so many matches and that’s his second on astroturf but I am finding it difficult to leave him out because he is doing rather well.

“He has been pestering me all the time to stay in the team and if he wants to play I don’t see any reason why he shouldn’t because he is contributing.”

Hamilton manager Martin Canning felt Hearts’ experience told in the second half, which was three minutes old when Naismith netted a penalty after Alex Penny brought down Ikpeazu.

“It comes from a throw-in and it was a little bit of inexperience,” Canning said.

“Shaun Want was excellent but it’s that little bit that you need to get to the next level and you need games for that.

“You have got to anticipate what’s going to happen and I don’t think he did. He got turned and we don’t react quickly enough to the second ball.

“Individually we can definitely improve but as a team we did a lot of what I asked them to do, particularly first half when we created a lot of opportunities.

“We need to get a bit of experience in to help the kids. We know we need to add defensively.

“I’m disappointed we lost three goals in 10 minutes or so, it takes a couple of older heads in there at 2-1 to say ‘calm down, we are still in the game’.

“We are close to getting a couple in but through the summer I have been closer and not got them.”