Heart of Midlothian bounced back from an early scare at home to Livingston on Saturday to secure back-to-back wins heading into next weekend’s Scottish Cup semi-final against Rangers.

Not once but twice Stephen Kelly stunned the home crowd early on at Tynecastle Park to give David Martindale’s men a surprise lead before Hearts rallied through goals for Jorge Grant, Yutaro Oda, Cammy Devlin and Lawrence Shankland before the break. From that point on, the men in maroon were able to see out a comfortable and well-earned victory to move one step closer to a third-place finish.

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A deserved win

A quick glance at the match stats would suggest that Hearts were worthy winners, and that the final scoreline was a pretty fair reflection of the game. The xG for Steven Naismith’s side stood at 3.47 – the highest tally ever achieved in a league game under Steven Naismith – from a relatively low 13 shots, of which only five were on target. It wasn’t that Hearts were banging on the door all game; this was down to the quality, not the quantity, of chances created.

As one would expect, Hearts enjoyed the majority of the possession (61 per cent) and treated the ball with greater care too, recording a 78 per cent passing accuracy to Livi’s 69. Martindale’s men worked harder off the ball and attempted more pressures, but Hearts had more success here. The home side won the ball back around one in four times when pressing; for Livingston, that figure stood at around one in eight. It’s a similar story when we look at the tackling – both sides attempted the same number, but Hearts were more successful.

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Slow start and rapid turnaround

The visitors started as the stronger of the two teams on Saturday afternoon, and it is hard to deny that Naismith’s men looked a little sluggish to begin with. Kye Rowles had a chance from a corner (0.04 xG) and Grant had a pot-shot (0.01 xG) but neither effort seriously troubled Livingston keeper Shamal George.

At the other end, Hearts’ defence was unconvincing to say the least. A missed header from Frankie Kent presented Tete Yengi with an excellent sight of goal early on, but the Livingston striker didn’t connect cleanly when striking at goal. The visitors’ next two attempts would nestle into the back of the net – Kelly took advantage of a stranded Craig Gordon for the first and some slack passing for the second 12 minutes later – but the Livi midfielder deserves credit for taking his chances well: they had a combined xG of just 0.13.

Livingston had taken their chances well but they would dry up after that. Then it was Hearts’ chance to show how ruthless they could be. The home side hadn’t fashioned much up until that point, but then created the four best opportunities of the game in quick succession, taking them all. On each occasion, Hearts worked the ball into an area where they could hardly miss. Whether it was Grant (0.88 xG), Oda (0.75 xG), Devlin (0.33 xG) or Shankland (0.78 xG), all were likely to end up in the back of the net if a Hearts man could make contact with the ball.

Hearts would steadily accrue some relatively low-quality chances (although Devlin should have done better when he prodded wide from seven yards out on 65 minutes), while Livi failed to fashion anything whatsoever until the final 10 minutes, bar a good chance for Michael Nottingham shortly after the break. By the time it was all said and done, StatsBomb put Hearts' chances of victory at 93 per cent, based on the opportunities both sides created.

READ MORE: David Martindale laments soft Hearts goals - but created enough 'to take something'

Both teams show ruthless edge

The high-scoring first half was unusual in many ways, but it should be noted how clinical both sides were during the opening 45 minutes at Tynecastle. Between the ninth minute and Shankland’s stoppage-time penalty, every shot on goal from either side nestled into the back of the net.

We’ll start with the visitors. The above shot map shows where Livingston’s efforts against Hearts were taken from. The two dots inside the six-yard box are headers from corners but Livi struggled to fashion all that much from open play after that initial 20-minute spell. Aside from Yengi’s early chance, all of Livi’s shots were from range.

There was, of course, one effort that stood out above the rest: Kelly’s spectacular opening goal. Take a look at the graphic below, which is a snapshot of the moment when the midfielder connects with the ball. With Devlin breathing down his neck, he has to hit it first time – and it’s a fantastic piece of improvisation.

And then there’s Hearts’ chances. As we can see below, three of the goals and Devlin’s second-half miss are between the posts and along the edge of the six-yard box – the best place you can shoot from – but aside from that, Hearts struggled to get their shots away. The greyed-out shapes indicate a blocked shot and as we can see, there are a fair few of them.

Naismith spoke after the game about being particularly pleased with the manner in which Hearts attacked the six-yard box, and it wasn’t hard to see why. It led to the team’s four best chances from open play, and three of those resulted in goals. Hearts reaped the rewards on Saturday – now, the challenge is to do so consistently.

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Passing and pressing

Hearts’ attacking shape was fairly structured throughout the win. Naismith opted for a 4-2-3-1, with Beni Baningime and Devlin sitting behind Grant, and Barrie McKay and Oda providing the width on either side. Shankland stayed relatively high, getting on the ball in the final third rather than dropping deep during the build-up. Oda looked to stretch the game on the right, while McKay played a little deeper on the left so that he could cut inside onto his right.

The graphic above shows Hearts’ passing networks for the first half (left) and the second (right). The second half can be hard to follow once substitutes enter the fray, but try to look at the overall shape. In the first half, it looks like a lopsided 4-2-3-1 with Oda stretching the game vertically, but it becomes something more like a 4-2-4 with most of the game taking place out wide.

Fans could be forgiven for having headed to Tynecastle on Saturday expecting a re-run of November’s cagey 1-0 win over Livingston, where the visitors parked 10 men behind the ball for the duration. This game wasn’t like that, though. To their credit, Livingston made a fist of it on Saturday and played further up the park. They pressed pretty much all over the park, but mostly near the halfway line and down Hearts’ right.

Hearts, meanwhile, did most of their pressing in and around the centre circle and away from their own goal. Individual errors cost Naismith’s side for both goals but once they were able to ensure Livi kept their distance, the chances soon dried up.

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Shankland the creator

A quick word before we go for Lawrence Shankland. Usually, we’re praising the Scotland internationalist’s goal-scoring prowess around this point of our analysis, but we saw another side of his game on Saturday: his ability to fashion high-quality chances.

Shankland finished the game with two assists to his name, and his neat flick to Alex Cochrane was a vital part of the build-up for Hearts’ third of the afternoon. He almost had as many touches in the opposition box (nine) than the entire Livingston team combined (11), his passing generated an xG of 1.05 from open play (an excellent return), and only four players – Frankie Kent (68), Rowles (61), Baningime (47) and Nathaniel Atkinson (47) – hit more passes in the game than Hearts’ talismanic striker (45). If the St Mirren game showed how much Hearts missed Shankland when building up, then Saturday’s win over Livingston showed just how creative he can be in the final third.