Hearts-Aberdeen reaction: Jorge Grant takes plaudits as Barry Robson admits Dundee clash is massive now

The Jambos took down the Dons and are now in pole position for third spot

Steven Naismith praised Jorge Grant for the way he handled the pressure after the midfielder took over penalty responsibilities from captain Lawrence Shankland in the 2-0 win over Aberdeen.

Hearts’ top scorer had missed the last three attempts and opted to stand aside when referee Kevin Clancy awarded the home side a second-half spot-kick. And, despite being made to wait as VAR assessed the incident, the Englishman calmly sent keeper Kelle Roos the wrong way as he finished into the top, postage stamp corner of the net.

“I said last week that Shanks would decide in the moment,” said the Hearts boss. “It was a pressure penalty when [the team have] missed the last three and then there’s the delay in taking it. I think Granty was the coolest man on the pitch as you could see from the penalty. It was some finish and it just eased everything, it made us be able to play the way we want to.”

Hearts' Lawrence Shankland scores to make it 2-0 against Aberdeen.

The Aberdeen players were furious with the decision, adamant that there had been a foul in the build up to Alan Forrest’s cross which struck Nicky Devlin’s arm. The sense of injustice was only exacerbated by the fact they had already had a first-half goal disallowed, when the video assistant intervened to point out a foul by Bojan Miovski on Beni Bamingime before he broke into the box to score.

"We never got the luck,” said under-fire Dons manager Barry Robson, whose side now trail 19 points behind third-placed Hearts, albeit with three games in hand, but two points behind seventh-placed Dundee, who have played the same number of matches. “I've watched it back and it doesn't look like it's clear and obvious [Miovski’s foul on Baningime] .

"I thought we were very good first half and could have scored another goal after the Bojan one. The one thing I was really angry about is when we gave the penalty away we never performed well after that. When you go a goal down you've got to be better than that.”

He knows the result leaves him in a precarious position, with Tuesday night’s head to head with Dundee now a key fixture. "I think from the minute I've been here under pressure as an Aberdeen manager, anybody that's been an Aberdeen manager will tell you that. I understand the club, I know the demands of the club and I get it but we need to keep going.”

Having taken the lead, Hearts forced home their advantage. While Shankland may have passed on penalty taking, he shoved Grant out of the way to swerve home a wonderful 77th-minute strike. “I say it all the time, he's not just a threat in the box or the six-yard box. He's a threat anywhere in the final third,” said Naismith. “There's been questions asked, he's missed three penalties, he'll go through periods of not scoring but I know he'll go into every game being a threat.

“It was similar to the one a few weeks ago, it was instinctive. That's the easy part for Shanks, the part that makes him different to a lot of other strikers - he doesn't overthink it. He sees it all and understands the backlift he needs and the trajectory of the ball. That's why he's banging goals in for fun.”