Dundee 0 Hearts 1

Jamie Walker's winner handed Hearts their fourth straight win as they edged out Dundee 1-0 at Dens Park. Hearts dominated the first half, but had to wait until eight minutes into the second period for the Scotland under-21 winger to make the breakthrough. New Tynecastle signing Perry Kitchen was made to wait until the 73rd minute for his debut after starting on the bench. The United States midfielder did not have too much to do, but added a composure to the Jambos midfield as Dundee pressed for a late leveller. But Paul Hartley will be furious that his side failed to grab a point after Rory Loy fluffed a one-on-one chance with Hearts goalkeeper Neil Alexander. The win means Robbie Neilson's team remain nine points behind second-placed Aberdeen, but Dundee's top-six status now looks in doubt after they missed the chance to climb back above Motherwell. Dundee conceded inside the opening 13 seconds in last week's humiliating 4-0 William Hill Scottish Cup thrashing by Rangers in Glasgow. And they were almost undone just as early this time as the Jambos sliced through the Dark Blues. Thankfully for the hosts Walker dragged his shot wide. Both sides were far from at their slickest on the crumbling Dens pitch, but Hearts were especially frustrated to see both Arnaud Djoum and Don Cowie fail to convert from Jordan McGhee's dangerous cross. Scott Bain, this week named in Gordon Strachan's Scotland squad for the up-coming friendly with the Czech Republic, then saved impressively from Juanma's diving header. But Hearts continued to push forward. McGhee thought he had found the opener after powering home a header from Cowie's free-kick, but his celebrations were cut-short by an offside flag. And Djoum gave a look of disgust down at the cratered surface as he failed to find the target from just five yards out on the stroke of half-time. However, Dundee returned for the second half fired up and were quickly surging forward. Alexander had to push away Paul McGowan's 15-yard strike, but the Jambos keeper was grateful the midfielder could only flash a shot wide moments later after being caught out of his goal trying to dribble past Greg Stewart. Nick Ross wasted another golden chance and it proved costly for the hosts as Hearts re-grouped before grabbing the opener. Willie Collum played the advantage after Darren O'Dea lunged in on Juanma and Djoum took the initiative, playing Walker in behind the home defence, with the winger calmly rounding Bain before scoring. Hartley threw on strikers Craig Wighton and Loy as he chased a result. And the latter blew his side's best chance of match eight minutes from time as he latched on to Paul McGowan's through-ball. Only Alexander stood in his way, but Loy's shot clipped the keeper, allowing right-back Liam Smith to come to Hearts' rescue as he cleared off the line.