Hearts managed to escape Dens Park with three points thanks to two key moments going in their favour. Derek McInnes’ side are leading the way in the Premiership, largely thanks to Celtic’s appointment of Wilfried Nancy, but faced a tough task against Steven Pressley’s Dee.

Hearts managed a 1-0 victory thanks to a goal by Claudio Braga in the first half. The goal was marred with controversy with the Dee players protesting at the goal being awarded. The Dee were furious that the free kick was not taken in the position that the foul was awarded and that Cammy Devlin took the free kick with a moving ball.

Inexperienced ref Ryan Lee did not take issue with the ball being played as he appeared to be paralysed by indecision at the time. Replays appeared to suggest that the ball was still in motion but in any case, Dundee had plenty of time to get back into the game.

Lee and VAR sent the Hearts goalkeeper off after denying a goal scoring opportunity. This allowed for the introduction of Craig Gordon, the veteran Scottish Internationalist. The Invincible from his time at Celtic secured the points for the Tynecastle side after pulling off a sensational stop in injury time to deny an equaliser.

Celtic showed quality yesterday in the win over Dundee United. Martin O’Neill has asked the powerbrokers at the club to bring quality into the building as they look to hunt down the league leaders.

The teams play together on January 25th at Tynecastle.