Heart of Midlothian continued their unbeaten run with a 2-2 draw at St Mirren.
Derek McInnes' team came from behind twice in the match to ensure they didn't follow the win over Celtic with defeat in Paisley.
Lawrence Shankland scored the first equaliser in the opening 45 minutes, with Claudio Braga earning a point in the second half.
With Celtic beating Falkirk, Hearts' lead at the top is now six points but that can increase to nine on Saturday against Dundee.
Joel Sked and Blair Meikle look back at the action.
Digging in
Hearts trailed for the fourth time this season. And for the fourth time, they found a way to come back. While they didn't win, they also didn't lose, gaining their eighth point from a losing position.
It was far from the best performance this season. Often it was scrappy, as you expect when coming to Paisley. You need to earn the right to play. When Hearts did, they were a real threat going forward. But there were periods where they fell out of the game, especially after the break and allowed St Mirren to put pressure on.
McInnes spoke after the Celtic game about stopping it from being a case of after the Lord Mayor's show in Paisley. That wasn't the case. St Mirren is not an easy place to go and pick up a positive result.
It requires digging in, finding reserves and playing and showing plenty of cojones, physically and mentally.
Hearts did just that, pushing forward rather than wilting. Not just searching for the equaliser but the winner.
They will continue to be tested this season and they have so far shown they are adept at standing up and passing the tests.
It was important that Hearts didn't follow up such a statement win on Sunday with defeat. They battled, pushed and showed the bravery to ensure that didn't happen.
Focus on counter attacks
Hearts were getting a lot of joy, or at least almost getting joy, from fast counter attacking in the first half.
On several occasions, they won the ball in the middle of the pitch, usually through Cammy Devlin or Beni Baningime, and played it very quickly into the forward players and attacked from there. If it was into Shankland then Braga and Kyzridis were running off him, and vice-versa.
There appeared to be a real focus on it and it was working well. The home defence looked vulnerable when got at quickly and it certainly seemed to be an avenue from which the men in maroon could profit. The only issue was that, more often than not, the execution or decision-making in and around the box wasn't quite there.
On one occasion, Braga shot straight at Shamal George when he should have worked him a bit more. And there was a few times Kyziridis managed to work it into his right foot, where we know he can be so threatening, but the final ball was off.
Fast, direct play is not something new that suddenly happened this evening, it has already been a big part of the identity of the team this season. But the regularity with which they were able to counter made it a real feature of this one.
St Mirren issues
This was the first time Hearts have conceded more than one goal since the home draw with Motherwell on August 23 and only the third time this season. The 3-2 win over Dundee United being the other.
Largely, defending hasn't been a problem other than when the Steelmen were cutting through at will that afternoon. It was tonight, and specifically from set-pieces or crosses into the box from open play.
The first goal was a wonderful piece of ingenuity from Dan Nlundulu but it came from a long punt from which he was able to get the ball under his control and send his overhead kick goalward without close enough attention from anybody.
The second was from a set-piece as Hearts again failed to deal with the initial ball and that allowed Miguel Freckleton to score. The same player had it in the net again and it was another free-kick. Hearts appeared to try and play everybody off, but that allowed the defender to get a free header, hit the post and prod in the rebound. Fortunately, VAR came to the rescue.
It was a similar story countless other times as St Mirren usually got the first contact, and often the second too. Hearts were living dangerously and could have conceded more from these scenarios, which will be a concern.
Alexander Schwolow deserves mention as he saved his defence with a number of impressive saves, including one in particular from Killian Phillips.
Welcome to the party
Hearts had just gone down 3-1 when Derek McInnes called to Landry Kabore. Only it wasn't 3-1. A VAR intervention had seen what everyone thought was the Buddies' third and perhaps decisive goal ruled out.
The game had been started to get chaotic and Kabore was added to that chaos. His impact was positive.
Hearts fans have been really keen to see the forward in action. He hadn't featured since August, but goals for his national team and in bounce games had whetted the appetite.
He was fielded in what was a very attacking four-man frontline alongside Lawrence Shankland, Claudio Braga and Alexandros Kyziridis. His first contribution was to slide a pass down the left for Braga to run onto.
He was then involved in the equalising goal, picking up the ball just outside the St Mirren box. He slid a pass into Kyziridis, whose shot was tipped onto the bar. Braga was the quickest to react, nodding home.
For a moment, it looked like he was going to be the hero when he bundled the ball home only for VAR to intervene and deny Hearts and Kabore a winning moment.
He's Lawrence Shankland
Twelve months ago, the Hearts captain had scored just once. That was a stoppage-time equaliser to secure a point at home to Ross County. He would score five in his last five to bring his season total up to nine.
He equalled that before November with his low, equalising strike past Shamal George.
Derek McInnes pushed very hard to keep Shankland at Tynecastle Park this summer and perhaps waited longer than he would for other players. His desire for the striker to remain and the patience shown have been justified and worth it.
The 30-year-old is playing with greater freedom, unshackled by the pressure and responsibility to score the goals. He delivered a captain's performance in the win over Celtic, scoring from the penalty spot, and he was central in Paisley once more.
A couple of attempted flicks around the corner didn't quite come off when he tried to set up Alexandros Kyziridis and Claudio Braga, the duo who have added pace and movement around him.
Hearts had been relatively wasteful in the final third, but that was rectified when Shankland calmly slotted the ball into the corner in the 35th minute. It was, as per Hearts Stats, his 100th goal contribution since joining the club.
McInnes thought he was going to put the team ahead when he drove into the box. The Hearts head coach swung his foot, as if he was in the position, but it was well blocked.
After the break, he should have put Hearts ahead, but he took his opportunity too wide and then should have squared rather than shot.
Baningime... again
It is becoming a regular occurrence to pinpoint the influence of the Congolese midfielder. But his impact in recent weeks is simply too hard to ignore.
There were certainly a few questions as to whether he would adapt to what was required of him in the centre of the pitch under McInnes. Namely, playing quicker and more directly. Any such doubts have been quashed with his performances.
There was one moment that summed up that evolution, if you want to call it that. St Mirren were making forceful progress down the Hearts left with Killian Phillips. Baningime came out of nowhere to wrap his leg around the towering midfielder and somehow come away with the ball. It was shortly followed by a great bit of incisive midfield play. Rather than go across the pitch, he changed the angle of his pass to take out the Buddies midfield and find Harry Milne in space through the middle.
Hearts would score moments later.
Now, one of the moments of the season arrived much earlier.. He supported an early attack and suddenly found himself with the ball in the box. He shifted it onto his right foot and curled an effort toward the far corner. It hit the inside of the post and somehow dropped wide of the other post instead of hitting the net.
