HEARTS lost to Bundesliga 2 outfit Kaiserslautern in the second match of their German tour last night.

After a 6-0 win over a local select team earlier in the week, Csaba Laszlo's men faced a far sterner test against the accomplished German second-tier side in Marburg.

The game marked Laszlo's fourth friendly in charge and despite a disappointing result, the Hungarian will have been relatively happy with the way his players applied themselves.

Laszlo sent his side out in a 4-4-1-1 formation with Jamie Mole supporting Juho Makela, while Mike Tullberg, a trialist striker from Denmark, took a seat on the substitutes' bench.

After an opening period of which the only real excitement came when a streaker ran across the pitch after only a matter of minutes,

Hearts created the first noteworthy chance, but Makela headed over from an Andrew Driver cross. The Tynecastle side were holding their own and Laryea Kingston was unfortunate to see an effort go inches wide from the edge of the box. Makela then raced on to a fine through ball from Kingston, but the Finnish striker lifted his effort over the bar.

Makela was making his presence felt and the German defence had to act smartly to deal with a dangerous delivery from the Finn, before Marius Zaliukas nodded over from a Kingston corner. With the Edinburgh side looking lively, Mole then burst down the left and crossed for Kingston, but the Ghanaian was denied by a fine saving tackle.

Kaiserslautern then had their first notable effort when Sebastien Reinart saw a fine strike from 20 yards out turned away by Steve Banks before Florian Dick nodded just wide from a corner. The Germans scored what would prove to be the only goal of the game just a minute before the break when Erik Jendrišek fired home a superbly-executed volley from the edge of the penalty box.

The goal clearly had a galvanising effect on Kaiserslautern as they came out fired up in the second half, spurning a couple of fine opportunities to double their lead. Ruben Palazuelos was introduced after 52 minutes and his arrival helped stem the flow and give Hearts a foothold again. The Spaniard set Gary Glen, another substitute, but the youngster saw his effort blocked and was unable to turn home the rebound.

Midway through the second half, Danish trialist Tullberg entered the fray in place of Mole. Dick then set up Reinart with a superb reverse pass, but again the Germans lacked the killer instinct in front of goal.

Tullberg had his first chance to shine when he was released by a pass from Palazuelos, but the Danish forward lost his footing and the chance was lost. Jendrišek, trying to emulate his earlier heroics, saw another effort from 18 yards out well saved by Banks.

Christophe Berra was presented with a chance after Tullberg laid off Michael Stewart's delivery, but the captain was unable to capitalise.

Kaiserslautern: Sippel, Quattara, Ameclick, Reinart, Bellinghausen, Bugera, Demai, Reghecampfe, Dick, Jeudrisch, kotysch. Subs not used: Winger, Trapp, Schonheim, Brouiszewski, Rebholz.

Hearts: Banks; Thomson, Zaliukas (Karipidis 52), Berra, Wallace, Kingston (Glen 55), Jonsson (Palazuelos 52), Stewart (Husband 78), Driver (Ivaskevicius 55), Makela (Mikoliunas 46), Mole (Tullberg 68). Subs not used: MacDonald, McGowan, Ksanavicius, Templeton.