WHEN you are 2-0 then 3-1 up at home, you should be able to close out the game more serenely than Hearts did yesterday. That, at least, is one interpretation of the Tynecastle team’s hard-fought victory over St Johnstone in a highly entertaining Premiership match.

A more charitable reading - and perhaps a more accurate one - is that, given the lack of match fitness of some players, and the unfamiliarity of both the back four and the strike force, this 4-3 win was a commendable and very promising return to the top flight by Robbie Neilson’s side. The Hearts head coach himself, while unhappy with the lapses which allowed the visiting team back into the game, was more than pleased with the way his side performed in a match which was preceded by the unfurling of the Championship flag.

“You’re always annoyed when you lose a goal, and the goals we lost were really poor,” Neilson said. “But the team has not had a chance to play together yet. That’s the first time we put that back four together, first time for [Prince] Buaben and [Morgaro] Gomis together this season, and the first time we’ve really had Juanma and [Osman] Sow together as well.

“So they’re still getting to know each other, and it’s been difficult. But to start with three points is great.

“We patched the team together. There are a couple who haven’t played 90 minutes yet - Buaben for one, who has barely trained. At half-time he said he was struggling, so I asked him for ten minutes. We managed to get the whole 90.”

The home defence’s lack of time together was evident during the spell in the second half when St Johnstone got back on terms, but new boys Blazej Augustyn and Igor Rossi did more than enough to suggest that in a couple of months they will be part of a formidable back four. And, in addition to the mitigating circumstances mentioned by Neilson, it should be added that Neil Alexander did little during that spell to inspire confidence in his defence.

The goalkeeper’s hesitant display led to a late aerial bombardment by St Johnstone, but Hearts, who had got back in front barely a minute after being pegged back to 3-3, held on for a victory that their superior creativity just about merited. They had Sam Nicholson to thank for a goal-line clearance in the first half, but they would also have enjoyed a more comfortable conclusion to the game if Nicholson had scored instead of blasting wide at 3-1.

Callum Paterson, who got on the scoresheet himself and laid on the winner for Nicholson, was in excellent form throughout. Jamie Walker was increasingly effective as the game wore on, while Juanma did enough before tiring to suggest that he will be one of Hearts’ most influential players this season.

The Spanish striker opened the scoring when a slip by Brad McKay allowed him to seize possession around 30 yards out. The striker raced into the box and scored with a low shot past Alan Mannus, who got a heavy touch but could not keep the ball out of the net. St Johnstone suffered a further setback when Chris Millar was forced off with a groin injury after 20 minutes, but they gave as good as they got for the remainder of the half, and were unfortunate not to level on the brink of half-time when a John Sutton header was acrobatically cleared by Nicholson.

Juanma’s physical strength caused his markers serious problems, but it was his deftness of touch that led to Hearts’ second. Making space for himself inside his own half, the striker raced forward before passing to Nicholson, who was brought down by Mannus. The keeper saved Sow’s penalty, but Walker was fastest to react and slammed the ball high into the net.

That might have been game over, but Saints pulled a goal back a few minutes later. A Joe Shaughnessy throw-in caused problems, and as the Hearts defence hesitated, apparently looking for a foul, Alexander failed to clutch the ball. The goalkeeper’s uncertain effort went only as far as Simon Lappin, who tapped in from three or four yards out.

Angered by that lapse in concentration, Hearts upped the tempo and got their reward when Paterson scored from close range after Walker had made good ground in the box. Nicholson’s chance to make it four came after he got the better of Tam Scobbie in the box, and his failure to put the game beyond doubt gave St Johnstone fresh hope.

Sutton pulled a goal back with a looping header to which Alexander was slow to react, and then substitute Graham Cummins equalised three minutes later from a couple of yards after the Hearts defence failed to deal with a low cross. The momentum seemed to have swung in St Johnstone’s direction, but within a minute Nicholson restored Hearts’ lead from a Paterson cross.

“Last season we won so many games in the last five or ten minutes,” Neilson added afterwards. “I think there’s still that belief in the team that even if we’re getting beat in the last five or ten minutes we can still come back.”

Tommy Wright rued his team’s inability to rescue a point after getting themselves back on terms, but, like his opposite number, was encouraged by his team’s ability to create and convert chances. “There’s no doubt we should have got something from the game,” the St Johnstone manager said. “We played extremely well, but we shot ourselves in the foot I’ve got to say four times.

“There are a lot of positives to take from it. We mightn’t struggle for goals this year. I just hope that defensively we can get back to where we should be.”

Not many teams will score three goals at Tynecastle this season and leave with nothing to show for it. But you suspect that, once that Hearts defence gets up to speed, not many teams will score at Tynecastle at all.