Dundee slumped to their sixth defeat in a row as they went down by a single goal at Hearts.
Even if the score was close, on balance of play they could have no complaints about this latest reversal over a 90 minutes that were dominated by the Jambos.
The Dark Blues handed a debut to centre-half Daniel Higgins as he celebrated his 19th birthday. Higgins, who only signed up a couple of months ago after leaving Celtic, was preferred to Frenchman Kevin Gomis.
The teenager was deployed on the right side of a three-man central defence and that formation saw Tom Hateley come in at right wing-back, with Cammy Kerr switching to the left.
When the action got underway in the Edinburgh sunshine, the home team were first to show. Don Cowie sent over a corner from the left to the edge of the area, from where Alexandros Tziolis fired wide.
In the 13th minute Hearts were ahead. Cowie played a pass through the middle and Esmael Goncalves took a touch before beating Scott Bain with an angled drive. It was a fine finish, but the Dundee defending was poor.
Paul Hartley’s men did threaten after a throw on their left. The ball was worked into the home box where it took a desperate challenge from Jamie Walker to deny Hateley a shot at the back post.
It was almost two at the other end when Cowie sent in another dangerous ball. Again he was looking for Goncalves, but this time the striker failed to connect.
Hearts were dominating and Walker was next to have a go, though his low shot from the 18-yard line was easily gathered by Bain.
Six minutes before the break only Bain’s brilliance kept the deficit to one goal. Andraz Struna crossed from the left and when Arnaud Djoum got his head to the ball it looked a goal all the way until the ‘keeper somehow clawed it away.
In the 43rd minute Dundee were close to being level. Tom Hateley curled in a free kick from 30 yards out on the left and when no one could get a touch, Jack Hamilton in the Hearts goal was a full stretch to push the ball on to his post.
Early in the second period Bain did well again, this time diving low to his left to smother a long-range effort from Tziolis.
Dundee were desperately trying to get forward, but even when they did, Hamilton was not being tested.
Craig Wighton was sent on for Henrik Ojamaa and with 62 minutes on the clock the sub missed a great chance for the equaliser. He robbed the ball from Krystian Nowak before striding into the box, but with only the ‘keeper to beat he pulled his shot well wide of the target.
When Hearts got back on the attack, Liam Smith went close with a header from another Cowie corner and seconds later Goncalves missed a chance when he had a fresh air shot 12 yards out. When the striker did connect the ball deflected off team-mate Malaury Martin, meaning Bain had to move sharply to his right to gather.
In the closing stages Dundee kept trying to find a way to goal, but in the end it was a comfortable win for the home side.
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