Hearts talisman singled out for praise as KIlmarnock want 'extenuating circumstance' to be looked at

Hearts are now a point off third place after the 3-1 win over Kilmarnock,

Moving joint top of the goal charts with a strike in each half, the forward – who started the match wide right of a front three – has a tally of 14 goals for the season. Eleven of them have come in the league and contributed to Hearts moving up to fourth spot, just one point behind third-placed Aberdeen.

“It’s massive for us,” admitted Hearts boss Robbie Neilson in the wake of the victory at Tynecastle. “Any team that’s got a guy that can be top goalscorer in the league is going to benefit. Today we moved him a bit to the right hand side then up top and he can play those roles for us. He is a very clever player, it’s just really getting chances for him because Lawrence will score goals. It’s about us making sure we get enough bodies around him in good areas.

“We looked good in the first half but we just didn’t carry it through. Coming off the World Cup break, you’re never really sure what you’re going to get. But in the second half I didn’t think we really got control. Kilmarnock came more into it but I was pleased to see it out.

“They did great in the first half. We got our wing-backs high and midfielders high, which was really pleasing. We could potentially have scored a few more but, in the second half, we need to carry that through again. Kilmarnock changed a couple of players and were a bit more aggressive with us. We didn’t handle it as well as we should so there are still a lot of things we need to tidy up.”

After Josh Ginnelly had kicked off the scoring on 19 minutes, Shankland doubled the tally before half-time and the home side looked comfortable. But unable to take advantage of the other opportunities that came long, Killie came back at them. Ash Taylor pulled one back on 73 minutes and there was growing unease in the stands, but a contentious 88th-minute handball killed off the Ayrshire men’s hopes of a comeback, with Shankland burying the resultant spot-kick.

"When it went to 2-1 I felt we were the team which looked like we were going to score the next goal,” said Kilmarnock assistant manager Tony Docherty, who conceded his team were not good enough but saw enough in the second 45 minutes to bolster them as they push for the points they need to escape the relegation scrap.

"If you get that equaliser then you look to go on and win the game but that's not the way the game turned. I don't know what hand ball is any more, my take on it is that Joe was going back the way and his hands go up in the air and I agree the ball hits him. They were in an unnatural position but for a reason [because he says there was a shove]. It certainly hits his hand but you need to look at the extenuating circumstance.

“But, I can't look at VAR's performance, I can only look at our own performance. Today we had a good 45 minute performance and we need to turn that into 90 as that will get us points and get us further up the league.”