James Penrice’s second half volley was enough to see Hearts leave Tannadice with all three points on Sunday afternoon.
Neil Critchley named an unchanged XI for the trip to the city of discovery, following the 1-0 victory over at Motherwell on Thursday.
It was the Jambos who had the first opening of the match after a consistent spell of possession. Firstly, Liam Boyce managed to get on the end of Penrice’s cut back, but his effort was well blocked by an orange jersey, before down the opposite flank, Adam Forrester crossed for Musa Drammeh whose effort was held by Jack Walton on 10 minutes.
The stopper was helpless just seconds later, when Boyce fizzed in a dangerous cross from the right which crashed off the crossbar as United survived an early scare.
The home side were mainly threatening from long-throws in the early stages and it led to their first real opening of the match as the ball dropped to Kevin Holt on the right-hand side of the box, but he volleyed well wide of Craig Gordon’s goal.
The Jambos couldn’t have come much closer to netting the opening goal just shy of the half hour mark when Blair Spittal’s deep corner was met by Craig Halkett, he looked to knock the ball back across goal, but Holt was on hand to clear the ball off the line.
Hearts had largely nullified the hosts in the early stages, which led to United manager Jim Goodwin making a double switch before the interval, introducing Jort van Der Sande and Ross Docherty in an attempt to gain more control in the match.
It didn’t seem to have an immediate impact as the final chance of the half fell to Spittal as he curled a free kick from 25-yards into the gloves of Walton.
Half-time: Dundee United 0-0 Hearts
The crossbar denied the Jambos again 5 minutes after the restart, when Spittal fired another free kick at goal, this time from nearer 30-yards, Walton had no chance, but the crossbar came to United’s rescue once more.
United continued to be direct in their approach from open play, but Hearts were fairly comfortable in defending balls into their box.
The second half had became a little scrappier and as the game entered the final 20 minutes, the sides still couldn’t be separated, but when Forrester nodded the ball into the path of Boyce, he miscued his effort and the ball sat up perfectly for Penrice who lashed home to give Hearts the lead with 17 minutes remaining.
The men in maroon defended their goal resolutely for the remainder of the match and although United continued to launch balls into the box, Craig Halkett and Kye Rowles headed everything away as the Jambos held on to a huge three points.
Attendance: 10,214
Dundee United: Walton, Strain, Holt, Ševelj (Fotheringham, 86), Ferry, Odada (Docherty, 39), Adegboyega, Stephenson (Middleton, 72), Dalby, Thomson (Van der Sande, 39), Gallagher (C) (Trapanovski, 72)
Subs: Richards, Graham, Trapanovski, Middleton, Fotheringham, van der Sande, Docherty, Stirton, Ubochioma
Hearts: Gordon, Halkett, Grant (Vargas, 86), Devlin, Rowles, Spittal, Wilson (McCart, 90), Boyce (Boateng, 74), Penrice, Forrester, Drammeh (Forrest, 74)
Subs: Fulton, Oyegoke, Forrest, Boateng, Dhanda, Neilson, Tait, McCart, Vargas
