Levein relieved to end frustrating spell with first win at revamped Tynecastle
Craig Levein admitted Kyle Lafferty's winner had transformed his mood after Hearts recorded their first victory in seven matches.
Lafferty struck the only goal against Motherwell in the 39th minute as Hearts notched a first win at the revamped Tynecastle after three consecutive draws.
Levein had acknowledged on the eve of the Ladbrokes Premiership clash that he was enduring the most frustrating period of his career.
“In the last three weeks, normality was feeling frustrated,” the Hearts manager said. “Today I feel pretty good. It's amazing how simple that ball going over the line, what a difference it makes to your mood after the match.”
Lafferty was back in the starting line-up after illness and got off the ground to net after Motherwell appeared to have dealt with Don Cowie's through-ball.
Levein said: “We had moments of good play and showed composure and that was one of them, Don slipped a nice pass through for him. For a moment I thought he had lost control of it but he showed good tenacity and then a bit of composure to finish it.
“He has had a couple of issues to deal with and he has been quite resilient through the whole thing. So I'm really pleased for him.”
Hearts defended well against second-half pressure from a Motherwell side who lost Chris Cadden (tight hamstring) and Alex Fisher (concussion) before the restart after already being without the injured Trevor Carson, Louis Moult and Peter Hartley.
And manager Stephen Robinson's mood was not helped by the nature of the goal, which came after Allan Campbell appeared to be fouled by Arnaud Djoum.
“The goal was comical, to be honest with you,” Robinson said. “There's a foul on Allan in the middle of the pitch, he gets scythed down. I have seen that back. I've been told there is a handball in it as well - I haven't seen that.
“Cedric Kipre slips and then Carl McHugh slips when Kyle is going nowhere. So it's frustrating to lose a goal like that.
“We dominated the ball at times without our so-called ball players stepping up to the plate and actually making something happen. That's the frustrating bit.”
With Carson out, Motherwell did not have a goalkeeper on the bench as cover for Russell Griffiths. Robinson hit out at rules which mean 19-year-old PJ Morrison cannot return from a loan spell at Clyde until the January transfer window.
“We didn't have a keeper on the bench because of ridiculous SPFL rules,”
Robinson said. “Apparently the recall option only works to play in the
under-20s. So we are trying to develop young Scottish players, put them in a stage like Tynecastle - new stand, great atmosphere - but we are not allowed to bring him back.
“If (Scottish Football Association performance director) Malky Mackay is going to develop young players, then the SPFL have surely got to support him.
“In the end, we won't loan players out. We run a 20-man squad yet PJ Morrison can't come and sit on the bench and soak up the atmosphere as part of his development. That massively needs to be addressed."