Out to take the points

Hamilton, to their credit, responded positively to falling behind but Greg Docherty, with a wayward shot from 20 yards and Rakish Bingham, woefully failing to control Ali Crawford’s through ball when he had only Jon McLoughlin to beat, squandered their best chances to equalise.

They also had a let-off when Callachan opted to go for goal from an unpromising angle rather than roll the ball into the path of the unmarked Smith, who had been screaming for the pass.

However, Hearts looked the sharper side and it was no surprise when they moved further ahead from the penalty spot.

There wasn’t a great deal of contact when Esmael Goncalves, who was clearly looking for it, went down as he brushed past Ionnas Skondras. Referee Bobby Madden immediately pointed to the spot and Kyle Lafferty lashed home his sixth goal of the season.

A two-goal lead is no guarantee of success, however, and Accies took advantage of some sloppy defending to reduce the deficit before the break.

Rafal Grzelak was caught napping when former Jambos winger David Templeton nicked the ball off his foot and made a bee-line for the by-line.

Once there, he smashed the ball across the face of the goal and Bingham made up for his earlier error by forcing it home at the far post.

However, although Accies threw everything but the kitchen sink at them, Hearts clung to all three points.

“I’m bitterly disappointed that we’ve given a team I thought we were better than a two-goal start,” said home manager Martin Canning, who also believed that Mr Madden got the penalty decision wrong.

“We didn’t create a lot in terms of clear-cut chances in the second half but it’s difficult when they have eight men behind the ball.”