Queen of the South secured their first win at Tynecastle since 1963 with a thrilling 3-2 victory over Hearts.
Queens boss Allan Johnston hailed his side as they got their promotion play-off hopes back on track against the Championship leaders.
Going into the game on the back of two defeats at the hands of Alloa and Morton, the manager was looking for a match winning performance – and he got one.
Allan said: “The boys were excellent from start to finish; we knew we had to put in a performance after the last two games and we did that.
“It was a real team performance; we have the quality going forward but today we defended well too.
“There were a lot of good performances out there. They won their headers and picked up second balls. It was just one of those games where everything came together.
“A real team performance.”
It was the first time Queens had beaten Hearts in Edinburgh in almost 58 years.
Allan said: “It’s incredible that it has been so long since we beat them but we know we had to play at that level to get a result. We always set up to attack to go and win games but our problem this season has been the goals we have lost. We have lost too many.
“But today we got behind the ball and defended well.
“The boys worked hard as a whole. They got back to passing the ball well and always looked a threat going forward.
“Some of the quality in the through passes was terrific.
“We always knew it would be a struggle at set pieces so it is frustrating to lose a goal from one but we knew their main danger would be from their height.”
Queens travelled to the capital just a few days after
the hosts had been embarrassingly knocked out of the Scottish Cup by Highland league side Brora Rangers – and the Palmerston chief was expecting a reaction.
He said: “I have played football long enough to know what it’s like off the back of a bad defeat.
“We knew they were under a wee bit of pressure and we expected them to come out on the front foot but we got the first goal which set them back.
“We restricted them to very few opportunities and were at the top of our own game with the quality of passes, breaking well, our movement and the way we closed them down.
“I thought we were different class, especially in the first half.
“We played well, created chances.
“Credit to the boys for coming back after Hearts had got back level.”
Queens are sixth in the table but are just three points of second place.
Allan added: “The result sets us up for the remaining fixtures.
“There are no easy games in this league so we have to focus on ourselves and if we continue with the same level of quality and effort we won’t be far away.”
