Steven Naismith names the Hearts star with a skill 'beyond his years' after impressive Tynecastle outing

The Hearts head coach was impressed by one star in particular against Kilmarnock.

The Hearts head coach had special praise for one star.

Steven Naismith believes Macaulay Tait has displayed a calmness beyond his years after his first Hearts start.

The academy graduate impressed in the middle of the park before being replaced by Cammy Devlin in the 1-1 draw with Kilmarnock. Kenneth Vargas welcomed in his five-year deal signed during the week with a headed goal before Marley Watkins' leveller.

Ahead of facing St Mirren next week, Hearts are 11 points clear of Killie in fourth. Tait's performance was a big plus point from the afternoon against Derek McInnes' side and the head coach was far from shocked.

Naismith said: "Really good. He's a real quality player. You could look at his stature and think 'Killie, a physical team, is he going to be able to handle it?' but he's robust, he's happy to go into a tackle.

"He puts his body in when he needs to, but then he's got a calmness beyond his years. He's happy to take the ball under pressure and he doesn't panic. It was a really good performance from him individually but it's not a surprise to me."

There was an element of frustration in the lack of final pass against the Ayrshire side, but Naismith was overall calm with his side's day on their return to league business. He added: "It's a bit of everything but the frustration is that when we did make a few passes, we broke on them 3 v 3, 4 v 3 at times and then it just broke down, we maybe picked the wrong option or the pass was overhit.

"That's the frustrating thing but I can't be too hard on the players because it's an achievement having 10 or 11 players away on international duty. The next stage is to deal with that and get through it with results. I'm content."