Hearts vs Dundee. Scottish Premiership.
TynecastleAttendance15,527.
Match report and free match highlights as third-placed Hearts are beaten by Dundee; Ellis Simms fired the hosts ahead; Toby Sibbick's own goal equalised for Dundee; Danny Mullen's 78th-minute goal secured a vital win for the visitors; St Johnstone replace Dundee at the foot of the table
Wednesday 9 February 2022 23:54, UK
Danny Mullen struck the winner as Dundee came from behind to beat Hearts 2-1 at Tynecastle and move off the bottom of the Scottish Premiership table.
The home side looked on course to tighten their grip of third place when they led at the break through Ellis Simms.
But a Toby Sibbick own goal early in the second half brought the visitors back into it before they claimed victory in the 78th minute.
Hearts made four changes to the side that started the 5-0 defeat at Rangers as John Souttar, Simms, Peter Haring and Andy Halliday replaced Cammy Devlin, Aaron McEneff, Alex Cochrane and Nathaniel Atkinson in the starting line-up.
There were also four alterations to the Dundee team that lost 2-1 at home to Ross County as goalkeeper Adam Legzdins, Vontae Daley-Campbell, Max Anderson and Niall McGinn made way for Ian Lawlor, Charlie Adam, Mullen and Josh Mulligan.
Hearts had the first clear chance of the match in the 18th minute when Beni Baningime played the ball wide to Barrie McKay and the winger saw his low angled strike from the edge of the box pushed out at the near post by Lawlor.
The hosts went ahead in the 21st minute when Lawlor allowed a low Simms strike from eight yards to squirm through his body too easily after McKay surged forward and slipped the ball into the path of the striker.
Dundee had their first notable attempt in the 25th minute as captain Adam curled an effort just over from 25 yards after Hearts failed to clear their lines.
The home side thought they had doubled their lead in the 32nd minute after McKay latched onto a lovely pass over the top from Haring and lifted the ball deftly over Lawlor but defender Ryan Sweeney got back to clear off the line.
Dundee attacker Paul McMullan then saw a shot from wide on the right pushed behind by Craig Gordon, and from the resulting corner - taken by Adam - Sweeney headed just over.
Hearts threatened again in the 36th minute when McKay and then Simms were denied by Lawlor in quick succession.
Dundee equalised in the 51st minute when Mullen ran onto a McMullan pass and fired in an angled shot that took a huge deflection off Sibbick's shoulder and eluded Gordon on its way into the net.
And the visitors snatched victory in the 78th minute when Mullen forced in a cross from substitute McGinn.
Dundee manager James McPake: "I'm thrilled with the three points, the attitude, the determination and the fight they showed," he said. "Not just to get back into the game but even in the first half when Hearts had a lot of the ball.
"We conceded what to me is a poor goal and we will look back at that, but it's hard to be critical when we've come to a place like this when they are flying high, third in the league, and we've now taken four points out of six here this season.
"Every three points is vital. We had 14 cup finals, it's down to 13 now. But we've got to be realistic as well. We can enjoy this and you saw the players going to the fans, that was an appreciation thing, that's not us saying we're staying up.
"It is a relief to get off the bottom but our aim is to get even higher."
Hearts manager Robbie Neilson: "It's very frustrating. We played very well in the first half, created loads of good chances and were in total control.
"But we didn't take these chances and started to get a bit over complacent. We didn't do what we'd been doing in the first half. We were quite aggressive in our passing and went behind them in the first half.
"Second half we were too static with our play. It was all side to side and not enough penetration. When we did actually penetrate we got chances.
"But we need to do better than we were. My biggest frustration to be honest was defensively. I thought we were very poor at the two goals.
"We've had a brilliant defensive record recently, but at this moment in time we've not and we need to get back to that."
The focus turns to the Scottish Cup for both sides at the weekend. Hearts are at home to Livingston in the fifth round on Saturday. Dundee travel League One Peterhead on Monday night.
