THAT old chestnut about lack of domestic competition was raised in mitigation for Celtic's latest European setback in midweek but there may just be life in the Ladbrokes Premiership title race yet. This attritional victory means that Hearts have quietly compiled a four-match winning league run and trail the Parkhead side by just three points this morning, with Aberdeen a solitary point further back. In the event the Tynecastle side can prolong their winning streak beyond the challenge of Dundee, Motherwell, Inverness, the Dons and St Johnstone before hosting Celtic here again on December 27, the last thing anyone will be complaining about is lack of competition.

This one certainly wasn't pretty. Indeed referee Bobby Madden, one of Scotland's more lenient match officials, felt moved to administer the kind of foul count more commonly spotted across the road at Murrayfield. But the full complement on both teams remained and the Tynecastle side were comfortably the superior team on show. Goals from Prince Buaben and Arnaud Djoum gave them an advantage by half-time and it was one that for all Accies' best efforts that they never looked like giving up.

"You guys might talk about a title race, we are not," said a low-key Neilson afterwards. "We look at the Aberdeen score coming in. At the start of the season we were talking top six, but we are trying to stay as close as we can to the better teams in the top six. Yes we have won four in a row but we need to stay level headed about it. We know the next blip will come."

Remembrance weekend, of couse, is always poignant down Gorgie Way, where McCrea's battalion - the ill-fated WWI unit which which was formed from 16 Hearts players who conscripted whilst the team led the old First Division - were inducted 12 months ago into the Scottish football hall of fame. Yesterday's minute's silence was punctuated by a lone piper, with everyone thankful that the incessant rain which fell in Edinburgh around lunch time had abated just in time. Referee Madden had been worried enough about the surface to inspect it around 1pm and while it passed muster, the terrain was still treacherous enough for a ball boy to slip to earth in the first minute of play, receiving treatment from the Hearts physio and allowing centre half Igor Rossi to display his comic timing by making the universal sign towards the dugout that a replacement was required.

Thankfully, the ball boy pulled through to play his part in a match which saw Robbie Neilson make two changes from the side which routed Hearts 4-0. Accies, who started this match clinging on to the top six, had got the better of the Tynecastle side by a 3-2 scoreline at New Douglas Park earlier in the season but they arrived here without the injured Ali Crawford and Grant Gillespie.

If set pieces were the visitors' best hope for a goal, Tagliapietra striking a post from one Imrie delivery, then Carlton Morris forcing a decent low save from Neil Alexander, Hearts' best hopes of creativity rested on the shoulders of Sam Nicholson and Osman Sow. Both men were involved in the move which gave Hearts their opener. When the ball was eventually funnelled back to Prince Buaben, his first of the season came via a low skidding drive which beat a goalkeeper of Michael McGovern's class too easily.

They also both had a hand in the goal which gave Hearts breathing space, Nicholson digging out a fine left foot cross this time, and Sow keeping his calm as the bodies flew in to square the ball for Arnaud Djoum to tuck in.

Hearts could have had a clinching third had McGovern not saved well from first Callum Paterson then Sow but the Accies also felt they could have had the goal which might have given them a route back into things. Their best chance came and went when referee Madden opted to book Morris for diving when he went down claiming a penalty after nutmegging Blazej Augustyn.

"I’ve seen it back and it looks a penalty," said Canning, whose team are playing better than their five-match winless run suggests. "Their boy comes across, Carlton sticks it through his legs and he’s brought down. He’s not the type of boy to go looking for it."

Hearts (4-4-2): Alexander; Paterson, Augustyn, Rossi, McGhee; Djoum (Pallardo 69), Gomis, Buaben, Nicholson (Swanson 79); Sow, Juanma (Reilly 68).

Hearts: Hamilton, King, Pallardo, Smith, Zanatta

Hamilton Accies (4-3-3) McGovern; Gordon, Tagliapetra, Garcia Tena (Sendles-White 36), Kurakins; MacKinnon, Turner (Longridge 46), Docherty; Imrie (Nade 76), Morris, Kurtaj

Subs not used: Martin, D'Acol, Redmond, Sendles-White, Nade, Boyd

Booked: Hearts: Juanma 20, Gomis 33. Hamilton Accies: Turner 5, Tagliapietra 13, MacKinnon 53, Sendale-White 59, Morris 64

Attendance: 16,121

Referee: B Madden