BOOED onto the park, booed on his first touch, booed when he scored, and booed when he came off. It was just another away match in Scotland for Aiden McGeady.

The winger conducted proceedings at Tynecastle as he scored a double while going back and forth with supporters back in the Tynecastle stands for just the second time in 16 months.

Former Celtic man McGeady is no stranger to a hostile atmosphere when playing away, so revelled in his pantomime villain role in the capital as he put Robbie Neilson’s Hearts side to the sword in a pre-season friendly played in the Gorgie sunshine.

An opener from the spot and second with a fierce first-time finish was bad enough for the 2,000 fans inside Tynecastle, but supporters erupted in boos as McGeady taunted them with his celebrations before being booked for simulation.

Gesturing towards the home support with his right-arm aloft after each goal McGeady firmly put the limelight on himself, and he made sure he was the centre of attention when he left the pitch walking from the far side and jokingly applauded Jambos supporters.

Despite the loss Hearts boss Robbie Neilson was pleased with the warm-up workout which highlighted areas to focus on for the Jambos before league duty kicks off.

Commenting on McGeady, Neilson said: “He’s still sharp, got good feet and good movement. I think he’s done very well for them last season, he came back out the cold storage in January and was excellent, so I think he’ll be a big player for them this year.”

And discussing his side’s performance, Neilson said: “I thought it was great, really pleased with it to be honest with you.

“Obviously you want to win all your pre-season games but for me it’s about trying to continuing to work on the shape we’re trying to play.

“It’s good sometimes to have wee areas we can show players where we need to improve. The last few games have been brilliant but probably not the challenges we found today with the way they played in the wee pockets.

“Today was a really good workout for us and a lot of good stuff to take from it both attacking and defensive and areas we can look at to work on.

“There was a couple of wee issues in the central area that we need to sort out.”

Sunderland were gifted their opener at Tynecastle after stand-in keeper Ross Stewart, in for the rested Craig Gordon, brought down namesake striker Ross Stewart in the box.

McGeady kept a cool head from the spot to finish with 15 minutes played.

Hearts enjoyed large spells of possession but couldn’t force a leveller as a Craig Halkett header, Gary Mackay-Steven deflected strike and Liam Boyce effort were thwarted by a resolute Sunderland defence.

The visitors had chances of their own with Aiden O’Brien forcing a save and clattering an overhead kick off the bar in the first-half.

McGeady further riled supporters just after the half-hour as he went down in the box under a Michael Smith challenge, but was carded for diving.

But there was nothing that could stop the winger from further terrorising the Hearts defence as he grabbed his second, slamming a first-time shot from the edge of the box into the bottom corner.

The second half was stop-start with both sides making a host of changes in the sweltering heat, but it did bring Hearts’ best chance when young Connor Smith struck the base of the post with a low drive.

After the match Neilson hailed his young guns who came on in the pre-season run-out and updated fans on the work behind the scenes to bring new arrivals to Tynecastle.

He said: “We are still trying to get ones over the line but it has been slow, as most teams have been. It’s quite difficult to get players in just now so we just continue to work away.

“I thought all the young ones did well. I thought Scott McGill playing right of the three was excellent. Couple of wee issues at the end, taking chances but I thought he was really comfortable there, Connor Smith at right wing-back, and Leo Watson did great out on the left as well.

“There’s a number of really good young ones we have got here they just need time to develop.”