A DELIGHTED Craig Levein insisted Hearts showed their quality in the 2-1 victory over Kilmarnock at Rugby Park last night.
Goals from the lively Sean Clare, with a sweet strike, and Steven Naismith, with a typical close-range effort, handed the advantage to the Tynecastle visitors before Rangers-bound Jordan Jones pulled one back for the home outfit with a well-taken penalty-kick before the interval.
The triumph means Levein’s men are only the second club to win two league games in a season at Rugby Park since Steve Clarke took over the Ayrshire club early in the previous campaign following the sacking of Lee McCulloch.
The Edinburgh side’s gaffer was excited by the display of his side who have now shortened the gap between them and second place to three points.
He admitted: “Winning pleased me most. It’s hard to get points here and to beat Kilmarnock, so it was a hard-fought and competitive game of cat and mouse for most of it.
“We had a couple of moments of real quality that won us the game. Arnaud Djoum’s play to pass to Sean Clare for the first goals and the set-play for the second.
“Killie had a lot of play, but nothing that caused us great problems which was pleasing for me. They have been on a great run of form, so to get three points is excellent.
“It’s probably the most keenly-contested top league in a long time, there’s a number of teams bunched together and it definitely makes it better to see all those clubs with a chance of finishing high up.”
