BBC Scotland's Brian McLauchlin at Tynecastle

Liam Boyce said scoring his first goal in 13 months "was massive" as he sealed Hearts' 2-0 win over Aberdeen.

"There was a wee slice of luck with the deflection and it went in but I think that sort of settled us down," said the Northern Ireland international, 32. "It was massive.

"We were causing them problems, which we haven’t been in recent weeks. We were making them defend more and get sort of half-chances.

“Eventually we got the second goal and that puts teams under pressure and I think the defence was unbelievable. They have dangerous players but they handled them really well."

Hearts went into the game on the back of three defeats in a row.

"I don’t think we have been happy with our performances," said Boyce.

“We are all honest boys and we know it hasn’t been good enough. We sit down and try to talk through it. We sat down as a team and staff and I thought today we were much better."