Hull's penultimate pre-season fixture saw the Premier League new boys go down 1-0 when they travelled to Tynecastle to take on Hearts in the Scottish capital.

Tigers boss Phil Brown once again used the fixture to try out various combinations. Former Manchester City attacking midfielder Geovanni started just behind Caleb Folan in attack for Hull in what proved to be a tough test for Yorkshire based club.

Hearts had the first chance of the match but forward Larry Kingston sent the ball just wide of Boaz Myhill's right hand upright.

Minutes later is was Geovanni who came closest for the visitors. A brutal freekick 25 yards out forced a brilliant save from Heart goalkeeper Steven Banks to keep the score at 0-0.

Hearts looked the most likely to score with City mounting only a couple of half chances before the hosts finally did take the lead in the 32nd minute. Poor control in the midfield meant Hull lost possession, allowing a cross across the box for an unmarked Avdrius Ksanavicius to head home.

Hull started the second half the brighter of the two teams with Geovanni again forcing a fine save from a freekick before the precession of substitutions started.

Hull worked hard throughout the second half but in truth will be disappointed that they never really looked dangerous in open play.

The Tigers have just one pre-season friendly left before the season really gets underway and Phil Brown's side will want to find some goal scoring form before getting down to the business of competing in a Premiership campaign.

Tigers: Boaz Myhill, Sam Ricketts, Anthony Gardner, Michael Turner, Andy Dawson (Cooper 85), Dean Marney (Hughes 80), Ian Ashbee (France 85), George Boateng (Fagan 59), Nick Barmby (Halmosi 63), Geovanni (Garcia 67), Caleb Folan (Windass 46).

Hearts: Steven Banks, Jason Thomson (Ivaskevicius 80), Eggert Johnson (Karipidis 58), Christophe Berra, Marius Zaliukas, Ruben Palazuelas (Brown 48), Andrius Ksanavicius (Mikoliunas 71), Michael Stewart, Jamie Mole (Makela 79), Larry Kingston (Wallace 86), Andrew Driver (Cesnauskis).