Hamilton Academical 0-3 Heart of Midlothian
- Published
Hearts extended their unbeaten run to 11 games with a comfortable victory over Hamilton.
The visitors opened the scoring when Ross Callachan converted Steven Naismith's cross after the break.
David Milinkovic extended the lead after beating the offside trap to run through on goal.
Substitute Dario Zanatta rounded off the win with a finish from Milinkovic's cross, after Hamilton defender Scott McMann dawdled on the ball.
Hearts substitute Dario Zanatta celebrates scoring his side's third goal
The victory also extended Hearts' run of not conceding a goal to 741 minutes, with Hamilton having been the last team to score against them, at the beginning of December.
For long spells, most interest came pre-match, with confirmation of Hamilton midfielder Greg Docherty's move to Rangers and the introduction of new signing Marios Ogboe straight into the home side's starting line up.
Hearts manager Craig Levein made four changes to the team that overcame Hibernian in the Scottish Cup, a decision influenced by the surface and fixture schedule.
Midfielder Danny Redmond was first to threaten for the home side, when he found space on the edge of the box, but his low shot was saved comfortably by Hearts goalkeeper Jon McLaughlin.
Hamilton defender Alex Gogic was robbed of possession for the opening goal
Hamilton attacker David Templeton dragged another shot narrowly wide from further out, before volleying from an angle but again McLaughlin was well placed.
Hearts didn't have a direct shot on target in the first half, perhaps struggling with the slippery artificial surface which seemed to hamper both sides. Things livened up a little in the second half with Hearts left back Demetri Mitchell alert to clear a dangerous low cross.
The visitors responded when Lewis Moore escaped down the left - although there was a question of offside - before the ball fell for Mitchell, who saw his shot headed away.
Moore then bundled into the box before crashing to the ground, but referee Nick Walsh was unmoved.
Hamilton midfielder Greg Docherty and defender Mikey Devlin are on the verge of leaving the club
Hamilton also claimed for a penalty when Ogboe chased a ball in the penalty area, appeared to get there before McLaughlin and then fell to the ground, but it was again waived away.
The decisive passage of play began with another defensive howler for the home side, following Scott McMann's horror own goal last weekend.
This time it was Alex Gogic, who tried to play out from near his own byline and cheaply lost possession. Naismith teed it across goal for Callachan, who gleefully tapped home with no-one near him.
It quickly got worse. Substitute Milinkovic beat the offside trap with the defence ball watching. He took a good touch, ran in on goal and coolly slotted home.
A third defensive blunder from McMann allowed Milinkovic to dink the ball to the back post, where Zanatta slammed home.