The telling moment was not Stuart Findlay’s header to open the scoring. It was not Lawrence Shankland battering the ball beyond Jack Butland. Instead, the latest indicator that this is a Hearts team of proper substance arrived as they conceded a 95th-minute and ultimately immaterial goal to Youssef Chermiti.
Frankie Kent, who had misjudged a through ball, was enraged. The Hearts goalkeeper Alexander Schwolow soon threw his gloves on the turf in anger. Derek McInnes, the manager, later only half joked that neither player was as furious as he was. Even losing a clean sheet is a cause for concern at Tynecastle nowadays. A year ago, they were rumbling around in the lower echelons of the league.
