For the first time this season, Hearts have gone three successive league games without defeat after James Penrice’s exquisite volley earned a colossal win at Dundee United. The 1-0 victory lifts comes after the Edinburgh club beat Motherwell on Thursday and drew at Ross County last weekend in their final match of 2024.
Winning at Tannadice Park is no easy feat this season with United sitting third in the league at kick-off. They had won all three of their previous fixtures over the Christmas period. Hearts struck the crossbar twice on an icy-cold Tayside afternoon before Penrice supplied the winner on 73 minutes. The visitors created the better scoring opportunities during the match and will therefore feel the three points are deserved - although they still remain 11th in the table.
United’s on-loan Wrexham striker Sam Dalby entered this fixture after 10 goals in his last 13 games, including a dramatic late winner in Thursday’s derby with Dundee at Dens Park. Hearts arrived on Tayside without second-choice goalkeeper Zander Clark due to injury and midfielder Beni Baningime through illness. Captain Lawrence Shankland remains sidelined with a calf issue and recent loan capture Elton Kabangu is still awaiting a work permit. Centre-back Jamie McCart was on the bench after joining Hearts from Rotherham United on Friday.
Liam Boyce’s audacious attempt from an acute angle struck the home crossbar on 12 minutes as the visitors made a confident start to proceedings. They would have scored through Craig Halkett’s header from Blair Spittal’s corner on 28 minutes, but the United defender Kevin Holt was in place to clear off his own goal line. Save for those two incidents, the first half passed in fairly unremarkable fashion.
Jim Goodwin made two substitutions towards the end of the first period, swapping young striker Miller Thomson for Kristijan Trapanovski and replacing midfielder Richard Odada with Ross Docherty. The United manager recognised Hearts had passed the ball better and created better scoring chances, and decided to act early.
The Tynecastle side rattled the bar again early in the second half when Spittal unleashed a powerful 25-yard free-kick. They had to remain patient and persistent to break the deadlock and were finally rewarded on 73 minutes. Spittal’s left-sided cross was headed back across goal by Adam Forrester, Boyce swung his right leg and scuffed the ball up into the air behind him, where Penrice was waiting for an explosive volley into the net.
It was a finish worthy of winning any match, and the closing stages for the visitors was purely about seeing the game out. McCart came on for stoppage-time at the end of the game to make his Hearts debut and will have enjoyed the scenes at full-time whilst celebrating an important win with his new team-mates.
Here are the Hearts player ratings from Tannadice:
1. GK: Craig Gordon
6/10 Almost nothing to do in the first half. One save of note in the second. | SNS Group
2. RB: Adam Forrester
6/10 A steady defensive performance from the young full-back. | SNS Group
3. RCB: Craig Halkett
7/10 Again, dominant in the air and a dependable presence in defence. His first-half header was cleared off the United goal line by Holt. | SNS Group
4. LCB: Kye Rowles
7/10 Dalby tended to peel onto the Australian as balls were launched forward. Rowles marshalled the striker well, giving him little opportunity to continue his recent scoring streak. | SNS Group