Lovell double breaks Hearts

Heart of Midlothian 1 Dundee

Seven days ago, Tynecastle was a fortress. Now, the unbeaten home record on which their hopes of European football next season are built is in pieces.

An opportunity to move into third place in the Scottish Premier League was squandered as Dundee followed Celtic's example here last weekend thanks to Steve Lovell, who followed Jim Duffy from Portsmouth and repaid his manager's faith with two fine goals.

For hard-up Hearts, the sale of the goalkeeper Antti Niemi to Southampton has raised much-needed funds and has also allowed Roddy McKenzie to flourish after an eternity as understudy. The Edinburgh side were indebted to their keeper for getting a hand to Nacho Novo's shot in the 14th minute to turn it on to the crossbar, after the Dundee forward had skipped past Steven Pressley.

Garry Brady was at the core of Dundee's enterprising play and the former Tottenham Hotspur player produced a neat sidestep before picking out Lovell with his cross in the 24th minute, but the striker's head was too direct to beat McKenzie.

However, just a minute later, Lovell could not miss a chance to put Dundee ahead. McKenzie's throw-out to Paul McMullan saw the full-back robbed by Novo, who supplied Fabian Caballero. The Argentinian showed some deft footwork which bemused Kevin McKenna before offering Lovell a header that was put away with ease.

Hearts were stung and their quest for an equaliser was incessant. McKenna had a goalbound header blocked before the woodwork denied them twice within the space of 30 seconds. First Jean-Louis Valois curled a sublime free-kick against the underside of the bar and then Stephen Simmons' follow-up thrashed against the inside of the post and into the hands of the grateful keeper, Julien Speroni.

The mounting frustration inside Tynecastle was finally soothed when McKenna delivered the equaliser the majority of the crowd craved in the 59th minute. Dundee had been authors of their own downfall, because Tom Hutchinson gave away a corner with a slack pass back from 40 yards. Valois punished him by dropping an inswinging effort to the back post which was met by the towering McKenna to finish off with a downward header.

However, Hearts had just seven minutes to enjoy their parity. Novo's angled pass behind the Hearts back three released Lovell, whose pace took him clear before he clipped the ball beyond McKenzie's despairing dive.

Phil Stamp almost fashioned a 77th-minute equaliser, after fine control with his thigh, but, when the former Middlesbrough player's shot slipped wide, Hearts accepted their fate.

Heart of Midlothian 1
McKenna 60

Dundee 2
Lovell 26, 67

Half-time: 0-1 Attendance: 10,619