Dundee United manager Mixu Paatelainen praised his players for their never-say-die attitude which gave them a last-gasp 2-1 win over Hearts.
Paul Paton fired home an 88th minute winner for the hosts after Jamie Walker had earlier cancelled out Guy Demel’s opener for United.
Paatelainen said: “It was a positive response. The boys showed there are quite a few strong characters in the dressing room.”
He was particularly pleased with their response after his players had come in for criticism following the 3-0 home defeat by Motherwell on Tuesday, most notably from their own chairman Stephen Thompson.
The Finn said: “There’s been a lot of criticism and rightly so. Nevertheless, it’s never nice and the way the boys bounced back from the disappointment of Tuesday was excellent.
“If we can keep showing that spirit, I feel there is a possibility we can stay up.
“It’s a long road and it’s just one win. But it’s a good win and the players’ attitude was excellent.”
Hearts manager Robbie Neilson criticised referee Kevin Clancy for his decision to send off Jordan McGhee.
He said: “We went down to 10 men and dominated the game. Yes, we got beat with a wonder goal at the end but the decision with McGhee totally changed the game.
“You get a warning, then you get booked and then you go in and make a good tackle and you get a yellow card. I’ve seen it again on the video. There are things that referees look at – is it reckless, is it endangering, is it at pace, is it studs up? It was none of it and he plays the ball.
“That’s the thing that irks you a bit about referees, for key decisions like that you have to be 100 per cent sure.
“I spoke to Kevin about it at the end. He wasn’t happy about me speaking but he finally let me in. It’s not going to change the outcome of it but with decisions like that you have to be bang on, you have to know exactly it is a second yellow – but it wasn’t. He said it was a second yellow card, in his opinion.”
Neilson admitted he was disappointed not to win the game.
“It’s a difficult game again for us. We expected to come up here and take three points and we didn’t,” he said.
“We have to regroup and get ready for next week.
“I can’t fault the players’ effort. They worked really hard, they fought, they dominated the game with 10 men and then Paton scores a wonder goal at the end from 35 yards. You just have to hold your hands up and say ‘well played’.”