Results over the weekend in the Scottish Premiership could barely have been better for Heart of Midlothian.
Third-placed Hibs were held to a draw, as were Aberdeen, while Dundee United lost the derby. That allowed Hearts to leapfrog Motherwell into the top six, moving further away from St Mirren after they drew with each other, and closing the gap to the European spots.
The 2-0 defeat for Ross County at Tynecastle Park leaves them four points and three places away from the top half of the division.
It wasn't a vintage display from Hearts. It took a while to get their first shot at goal and after opening the scoring through Elton Kabangu, it took until the final minute of the regulation 90 for substitute Jorge Grant to make sure Hearts would take all three points.
A big reason for the success was the team's first clean sheet since Dens Park last month, their first at Tynecastle since January 2.
Craig Cairns looks back on the action from Saturday's 2-0 win over Ross County.
Getting to grips with County’s shape
Neil Critchley made one change from the side that knocked Dundee out of the Scottish Cup, bringing in James Wilson for Kenneth Vargas.
The Costa Rican was unlucky to drop out after a good performance the week before but, as suggested in the predicted XI, it was no surprise to see Wilson reinstated after his call-up to the Scotland squad.
It meant they continued in their diamond formation and, for the second game in succession, an opposition manager lined up to mark it man for man.
Don Cowie, who captained Hearts for Ross County’s only victory at Tynecastle Park, sacrificed a striker in order to line up in a 3-5-1-1 shape, with Noah Chilvers in the No.10 role to man-mark Beni Baningime.
Hearts took a while to get to grips with the stuffy shape though, with more than 70 per cent of the possession in the opening 45 minutes, they spent a lot of it patiently probing.
Lawrence Shankland spent a lot of it dropping deep and with Baningime now pressing as aggressively as possible, the below StatsBomb pass network from the first half shows them almost level with each other.
Not until around 20 minutes in did Hearts get a shot at goal, when Blair Spittal fired over the bar from distance.
Beni Baningime
Baningime continued his excellent form – nominally at the base of the diamond but in reality, his positioning is so aggressive that Hearts play with almost a flat midfield three at times. In the first half at Easter Road recently he was pressing as high as on the edge of the Hibs box.
At Tynecastle on Saturday, he was the player who looked most likely to wriggle free and make something happen.
After an important block at one end, he eased away from pressure to thread the ball through to Elton Kabangu for the opener.
He’d been at it most of the half. No matter where on the pitch, and no matter what kind of pressure he is under, he has the composure and intelligence to always be a step or two ahead of his opponent.
There were several times when County were expecting Baningime to play a safe pass and he instead drove into space to play a more positive one, including for the first goal, something fans have been keen for the Congolese star to do more of. It was the result of a patient passing move from defence that eventually led to an opening.
It was also a result of what Kabangu is being asked to do in this formation – which more often than not recently has been against a back three.
After the game, Critchley said: “It was a really good team goal. We were asking him just to play slightly wider and hang outside the outside centre-back. And he did that.
“And he dived behind him. And Beni slid a brilliant weighted pass through for him for the first goal.”
Impact of subs
The game became more open after half time, especially when Ross County made more and more attacking substitutions. Shortly after the hour mark they brought on two more strikers in a move to more of a 3-4-3.
Critchley responded by bringing on Grant and Calem Nieuwenhof for Kartum and Spittal. These 'shuttler' positions on the side of the diamond are regularly rotated in-game since the switch of shape last month, and sometimes between games.
Before, in the 4-2-4 it was much more likely to see the right-back substituted at some point in the second half, with the full-backs being asked to do more in that formation. Although James Penrice seems to be a law unto himself when it comes to fitness and, other than a suspension, hasn't missed a minute under Critchley.
Around 10 minutes after his first double change, Cowie made two more attacking subs and the Hearts coaching staff consulted before bringing on Musa Drammeh and Alan Forrest in a switch to a 4-2-3-1.
That gave Hearts a more solid base to see out the clean sheet and the added pace in attack gave them more of a threat in the increased space when counter-attacking.
After a good defensive intervention, Musa was unlucky not to score soon before he crossed for Grant to seal the three points.
The Englishman was fantastic in his 25 minutes or so on the pitch, both on the left of the diamond and in the No.10 position he finished the game in. He helped create, sometimes with clever outside-of-the-boot passes and he was key to keeping possession in injury time to see out the game – and avoid even a hint of another County injury-time comeback.
Read more
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Neil Critchley hails 'professional' Hearts display and explains Elton Kabangu role
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How Hearts moved back into top 6 with a win over Ross County – and the two standouts
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Craig Gordon provides James Wilson insight and backs Hearts star for Scotland return
Clean sheet
Critchley described the performance as “routine, in the end” and professional. It is difficult to disagree.
It wasn’t a vintage display, it was a frustrating watch at times and there were a few groans from the stands, especially when Hearts failed to kill off the game earlier than they did.
But the Hearts head coach was also happy that the nerves never seeped onto the pitch and his side remained calm – especially with the Dingwall collapse still fresh in the memory.
What is encouraging is that it is now 10 wins in the last 12 – if you count St Mirren in the Scottish Cup as a victory – and Hearts are winning some of those games while not being at their best.
Key to that on Saturday was the clean sheet and Steinwender’s part in it. The Austrian has had better matches on the ball but defensively he was immense.
His ability to sniff out danger and the pace he has to get there are crucial to the often risky high defensive line Hearts play. Every time County attempted a ball down his side he was there to repel it and at 1-0 early in the second half he nodded away a vital header with George Harman attacking the back post.
According to Sofascore, Steinwender won 100 per cent of his ground duels, nine out of 11 headers and cleared the ball 13 times.
