Hearts moved off the bottom of the table as Lawrence Shankland returned to scoring form with a brace against Dundee.
The Jambos took the lead on 21 minutes and it was a moment of pure relief for their number nine. James Penrice delivered from the left and it was back to the Shankland of old as he looped a header out of the reach of Jon McCracken.
It was definitely back to the Shankland of old as he made it two ten minutes later. Penrice was the architect again, this time his fierce low ball into the box parried into the path of the striker and he calmly finished.
The second half was more of a contest than the first and Dundee did threaten ever so slightly more but Craig Gordon wasn’t called into action.
Hearts probably still looked the most likely to score again and Musa Drammeh did have the ball in the net after a Jon McCracken blunder. But the forward was offside.
Shankland then came close to his hat-trick at the death but was denied by a strong McCracken save but that would just have been the icing on the cake for the hosts.
Two sides to Dundee
Dundee have been wildly inconsistent all season and we’ve seen that in a microcosm this week after they beat Motherwell 4-1 midweek followed up with today’s result.
The 2-0 half-time lead didn’t flatter the home side at all as their intent married with the visitor’s inept start led to 45 minutes of dominance.
The Dee have looked shaky defensively all season and they didn’t cover themselves in glory in that regard, but they didn’t do much in possession either.
In truth, they struggled to really get out of their own half in that first period and while they improved after the break it was too little too late.
Shankland is back
When Shankland scored that first goal with the type of headed finish at the back post we’ve seen so often from him, it seemed inevitable he would get another.
That’s exactly what happened ten minutes later.
Relief was clearly a prevalent feeling for the Hearts skipper and he and their fans will now hope he can be back to his sharpshooting best for the rest of the campaign.
Other individual positives for Hearts were the performances of 17-year-old James Wilson, in from the start for the first time, and James Penrice, who continues to be a standout.
More pace in Hearts side makes difference
At times this season the Jambos have looked to Kenneth Vargas as the sole provider of a bit of pace.
But with Musa Drammeh emerging as an option for the first-team, there is more pace in the team.
Today they had Wilson through the middle and Drammeh wide right and it instantly gave them more threat and an ability to stretch the opposition backline.
Wilson was always a willing runner and it allowed balls to be played in behind and made such a difference.
With Yutaro Oda returning from injury that is another pacey option and he was joined on the bench by Alan Forrest and Vargas.
Neil Critchley will still look to add speed to the attack in the transfer market but it is a start.