But for an act of eye-watering recklessness just before half-time, we would have been speaking about a match in which Livingston provided sound evidence that they are not the worst side in the Championship and Hearts showed for the umpteenth time that they are, by some distance, the most resilient in the division.

Instead, Saturday's feisty encounter in the Almondvale sunshine will be predominantly recalled for the moment Jason Talbot planted his studs, dangerously high off the ground, into the face of Hearts attacker Sam Nicholson. With the Tynecastle side leading 1-0 just before the interval, their winger felt the full force of Talbot's boot in his face as he attempted to knock the ball over the Lions captain and run past him. As Nicholson writhed in agony and the Hearts fans and players bayed for a red card, referee Brian Colvin, just a couple of yards from the incident, saw fit only to flash a yellow.

Pictures of the challenge - both still and video - allied to a photo of Nicholson's face, blemished by studmarks and stitches, merely confirmed that Colvin had got it wrong in allowing the Livingston player to remain on the pitch while the Hearts man was unable to continue. "It was a bad one," said Jamie Walker, the Hearts winger. "I thought it should have been a red card."

Head coach Robbie Neilson, not usually one to get worked up about particular incidents, said: "Sam's going to be alright, but it wasn't the best tackle from the boy. That's what sometimes happens when teams are desperate to beat you - they can cross the line. I've let the referee know my views on it."

Hearts director of football Craig Levein added his tuppence worth on twitter. "Tackle on Sam takes a bit of explaining to say the least."

Unfortunately, Talbot declined a request to explain himself so team-mate Burton O'Brien to make a case for the defence. "I know Jason's an aggressive player, but in the heat of the moment, I genuinely did think he went for the ball," said the Livingston midfielder. "I don't think there was any malice in it. If you're going to stop and freeze pictures of every incident throughout the season, you'll be here all day."

A far easier task for O'Brien was musing over his bottom-of-the-table side's performance. "We had them rattled," he said. And, despite the final scoreline, he wasn't wrong.

A brilliant early strike from Genero Zeefuik should have put Hearts in control, but they were unable to shake off a Livingston side who grew into the game and, as evidenced by a yellow card count of six, weren't afraid to leave a mark on the league leaders. The Lions equalised through former Hearts youngster Craig Sives early in the second half and looked good for at least a point as Hearts fans grew agitated with their players, who were toiling to find any rhythm.

However, such is the depth of quality in this Hearts squad, their substitutes dug them out of a hole. With eight minutes left, Billy King, who had come on five minutes earlier, crossed for debutant Kenny Anderson, Nicholson's replacement, to head home. Then Walker added the killer third after being released by King. Kyle Jacobs pulled one back with a penalty at the death after substitute Brad McKay, who had just come on to shore things up, was sent off for a last-man foul on Myles Hippolyte.

Hearts are now 19 points clear at the summit, although Rangers have three games in hand. "To have the points on the board is great, but if Rangers win their games in hand, it's down to ten points, so it's not over yet," said Walker. "We've shown once again that even if we're not playing well, we can still keep battling away and get late goals. We were giving the ball away cheaply and it wasn't good enough. When the fans are getting agitated, you just need to blank it out. You've just got to keep concentrating and hoping the chance comes, and thankfully it did."