Robbie Neilson praised Hearts' strength in depth after their thumping 6-2 opening night Championship hammering of Dundee.
The Jambos were 4-1 up at half-time after goals from Michael Smith, Josh Ginnelly, Liam Boyce and Stephen Kingsley, with a Charlie Adam screamer for the visitors.
Danny Mullen made it 4-2 after the break, but Neilson re-upped from the bench with some string subs and they stretched their lead again thanks to Kingsley’s second and Andy Halliday’s first for the club.
That ability to change the game from the sidelines is what could set Hearts apart from the rest this season.
“I was delighted with the players. From the first minute. They were at. They went and pressed, stopped Dorrans and Adam dictating the game and managed to get a couple of goals.
“Second half was a wee bit more difficult, they changed their shape and went a bit more direct.
“But once we got Haring, Andy Halliday and Wighton on, the game settled down again, which was great.
“See as a manager? There’s nothing better than turning round to your bench and going ‘they can change the game.’
“You can bring them on and be more attacking or defensive and set up how you want.
“Tonight we’ve left Steven Naismith on the bench who’s got 51 caps for Scotland and in the Hall of Fame.
“We’ve got Elliott Frear who’s played in the Premier League so we’ve got a lot of options.”
Two goal hero Kinglsey was the surprise marksman of the night, pinging in a free-kick on the stroke of half-time then powering home a late drive.
“It wasn’t for the goal scoring prowess but we did know he was a threat for free kicks,” Neilson explained on Hearts TV.
“He’s managed to do that but the finish for his second goal was top, top drawer.
“We spoke about at half-time with both full backs scoring that we needed a couple of goals from midfield as well.
‘It was pleasing, but it’s done now and we move on to Arbrotah on Friday. That’s going to be a tough game.
“The game’s on TV, and the reason it’s on TV is because people are expecting an upset.
“We need to go up there and make sure we don’t give them one.”
