Dundee Utd 0-2 Hearts

Mark de Vries celebrates his opener

Hearts pulled off an excellent win away to Dundee United courtesy of goals by Mark de Vries and Andy Webster.

The visitors took an early lead when the Dutch striker took advantage of poor defending to tuck the ball past Paul Gallacher in the United goal.

United had plenty of possession and had a penalty claim turned down after Webster tangled with Jason Scotland.

But the defender made sure of the points with 18 minutes to go with a close-range header.

Hearts opened the scoring after only four minutes, after a terrible mix-up at the back between defender Chris Innes and goalkeeper Paul Gallacher.

They both appeared to chase Paul Hartley's through-ball, leaving a huge space in the middle of the goal.

And they paid the penalty when De Vries nipped in and diverted the ball away from them into the net.

United thought they had equalised four minutes later when Innes nodded Mark Wilson's free-kick into the net from six-yards out, but the former Kilmarnock man was flagged offside.

The home side had a strong penalty claim turned down by referee Mike Ritchie in the 20th minute, when Andy Webster appeared to clip the heels of Jason Scotland as he raced through one-on-one with Craig Gordon.

Hearts captain Steven Pressley salutes the fans at full time

The forward seemed to lose control of the ball as he lined up his shot however and perhaps made more of the challenge than necessary, which probably influenced the referee's decision to wave play on.

Scotland's strike-partner, Collin Samuel, spurned a great chance to equalise on the half-hour mark, when he headed Billy Dodds' cross well wide of the target from six yards.

Hearts almost profited from another defensive mishap, two minutes after the break, when Gallacher came to punch a Hartley high ball and made a mess of it - prompting a goal-mouth scramble.

Kevin McKenna attempted a scissors kick, but it flew wide.

David McCracken had a good chance to equalise in the 54th minute when Barry Robson picked him out with a drilled low ball through the penalty area, but he could not dig a shot out from between his feet.

Dodds then went close with a lob from the edge of the penalty area and was unlucky to see his shot fly wide with Craig Gordon scrambling.

Hearts added a second in the 72nd minute, through Webster.

The 22-year-old defender was in the right place at the right time to nod Scott Severin's cutback past the goalkeeper.

Once again United's defending was suspect, with Innes particularly slow to react.

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Dundee Utd: Gallacher, Wilson, McCracken, Innes, Archibald, Easton, Kerr, Dodds, Robson, Samuel, Scotland.

Subs: Jarvie, James Paterson, Duff, Holmes, Conway.

Hearts: Gordon, Pressley, McKenna, Webster, Neilson, Severin, Hartley, Hamill, Maybury, De Vries, Weir.

Subs: Moilanen, MacFarlane, Wyness, Kisnorbo, Janczyk.

Referee: M Ritchie