Maroon Memories: Craig Levein's tactical switch ensures emphatic victory

Gary Wales celebrates his goal with Juanjo

Hearts claimed an emphatic win over Dundee at Tynecastle.

Jambos boss Craig Levein had come under fire for his negative tactics the week before, but he silenced the doubters with an attacking line-up which was full of vigour and visitors Dundee simply cound’t handle them.

Levein adopted a very positive 4-3-3 formation with defender Kevin McKenna playing in an unfamiliar forward role alongside Gary Wales and Juanjo.

Dundee replaced the injured left-back Marcello Marocco with Alessandro Romano and recalled Beto Garrido to the midfield. Starting at a whirlwind pace, Hearts raced into an early lead through Colin Cameron with Wales adding two more goals with just 17 minutes on the clock.

Hearts went close after four minutes when skipper Cameron came within inches of grabbing his second goal of the season, but fired just wide following a Steve Fulton through ball.

It didn’t take long for the home side to find the net though, through a cleverly worked free-kick in the 12th minute.

Fulton was again the creator, catching the Dundee defence sleeping with a clipped pass for Cameron, who drove the ball home from ten yards.

Sixty seconds later, Hearts found themselves two up.

Stephen Simmons set Wales up and the young striker sent an unstoppable drive past Dundee goalkeeper Jamie Langfield.

Two minutes later, the Hearts fans were delirious when Wales grabbed a second from close range.

Hearts continued to press forward in search of more goals and, in the 28th minute McKenna sent in a looping shot from the edge of the area which flew just over the bar.

Dundee battled hard to get back into the game but found little change from a determined Hearts defence.

Fabian Caballero was well-marshalled by Stephane Mahe and, without his service, top scorer Juan Sara was largely ineffective.

In the 54th minute, Beto Carranza came close to getting one back for the Taysiders, unleashing a volley from outside the area which arrowed past Antti Niemi’s right-hand post.

Hearts continued to look dangerous and a well-worked move in the 57th minute almost brought them a fourth.

McKenna broke free on the left and centred for Cameron, who used his chest to lay the ball off for Wales. The forward however, was denied the chance to shoot by some stout Dundee defending.

In the 70th minute, Sara and Barry Smith combined to create an opening for Caballero but the striker snatched at his effort and failed to trouble the Hearts keeper.

Giorgi Nemsadze grabbed a late consolation goal for the visitors with four minutes of play remaining.

Hearts: A Niemi, T Flogel, S Pressley, S Severin, S Mahe, S Simmons (S Boyack, 66), C Cameron, S Fulton (A McCann, 89), Juanjo, K McKenna, G Wales (A Kirk, 81). Subs not used: A Webster, R McKenzie.

Dundee: J Langfield, B Smith, Z Khizanishvili, W Del Rio, A Garrido (S Milne, 73), A Romano, G Nemsadze, G Rae, B Carranza, F Caballero, J Sara. Subs not used: M Robertson, U Fatello, C Coyne, P Mathers.

Referee: Kevin Toner.

Attendance: 12,259.