Levein delighted at Hearts players' response

Dundee 1 Hearts 2

Hearts boss Craig Levein was delighted with the way his players reacted to conceding a late equaliser by snatching a 2-1 win at Dundee.

Hearts showed why they are third in the Bank of Scotland Premier League by upping the pace of the game after Duncan McLean scored to cancel out Mark de Vries’ 46th-minute opener.

Levein has watched his side drop points recently and felt his team have not been properly rewarded for the standard of performances they have produced – but he was in no doubt the best side won tonight.

He said: “I thought it was going to be another one of those games when they equalised late on, especially as we’ve let that sort of thing happen a few times recently.

“However, I was delighted with the way we responded to a blow on the chin and we deserved the points in the end.

“I was pleased with the way we reacted to losing the goal and the players all had to stand up and be counted and I’m happy that they rose to the challenge.”

Levein also revealed that midfielder Jean-Louis Valois is likely to be out for over a month after limping off with a hamstring injury.

Fellow midfielder Phil Stamp also hobbled off, but his manager was less clear on his condition.

“Jean has pulled a hamstring and will most likely be out for four to six weeks because of it,” Levein said.

“It’s disappointing because he was really starting to produce some good performances for us.

“As for Phil, he took a knock on the shin and it’s swollen up so we’ll just have to wait and see how it develops but we’d hope he’ll be okay for the weekend.”

A dejected Jim Duffy but rounded on his defence for losing a “shocking” late goal, criticising them for not showing enough concentration after claiming the equaliser.

He said: “To say I’m disappointed is an understatement because when you get back into a game like we did you expect to get at least a point.

“The workrate and attitude was there, but we didn’t show the right level of concentration and the second goal was just shocking from our point of view.

“We’ve now lost quite a few goals from routine crosses into the area and we’re going to have to learn to keep our minds focussed.”