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Hearts 2-1 Dundee: Sabah Kerjota's stoppage-time strike snatches victory to make it four wins on the spin

Sabah Kerjota scored a stoppage-time winner as Hearts staged a dramatic late fightback to defeat Dundee 2-1 at Tynecastle and make it four Premiership victories in a row.

Hearts were frustrated for long periods after the visitors - who had both Joe Westley and Fin Robertson stretchered off - took the lead in the 17th minute through Bradley Fink.

But Hearts eventually drew level in the 84th minute through a Claudio Braga penalty before Dundee had Zan Besir sent off as the match ticked into stoppage time.

Wouter Vrancken's buoyant side made their extra man count when Albanian substitute Kerjota drilled in his first goal since arriving at Tynecastle last summer in the sixth minute of added time.

The victory elevated the Jambos, unbeaten in eight in all competitions, to second in the table.

There was one enforced tweak to the Hearts side that started Thursday's Edinburgh derby triumph away to Hibernian as Blair Spittal, who is facing months on the sidelines due to injury, was replaced by Tomas Magnusson.

Dundee boss Steven Pressley made four changes from Wednesday's 1-1 draw with St Johnstone as Imari Samuels, Drey Wright, Robertson and Fink were all added.

Hearts started brightly and Calvin Miller saw an effort deflected behind in the third minute. From the resulting corner, Dundee suffered a blow as Westley had to leave the field on a stretcher after a collision with Jamie McCart. Bobby Wales came on in his place.

The visitors made the breakthrough from their first chance of the match in the 17th minute when Fink got in behind Oisin McEntee to latch on to Samuels' long ball over the top and the Swiss forward looped an effort beyond the exposed Beau Reus from 12 yards.

Dundee's Bradley Fink celebrates after scoring to make it 1-0

Image: Dundee's Bradley Fink celebrates after scoring to make it 1-0

Dundee threatened a second when Ethan Hamilton seized on an error from Magnusson and surged forward but his low shot from just outside the box ran wide of Reus' left-hand post.

Hearts, having been knocked out of their rhythm by the visitors in the first half, had a good opportunity five minutes after the break when Josh McPake ran on to Magnusson's pass and drove into the box but he was denied by Owen Goodman.

At the other end, Dundee substitute Jack Moorhouse's shot skimmed the crossbar after he dispossessed Jordi Altena.

Hearts started to crank up the pressure as the half wore on, with James Wilson, Braga, sub JJ Williams and McPake all threatening.

Dundee's Drey Wright (L) and Hearts' Josh McPake (R) battle for possession

Image: Dundee's Drey Wright (L) and Hearts' Josh McPake (R) battle for possession

Dundee then had a second player stretchered off in the 76th minute when Robertson went down injured.

Hearts eventually levelled in the 84th minute when they were awarded a penalty following a VAR intervention after Owen Bevan was adjudged to have blocked a Christian Borchgrevink cutback with his arm, and Braga stepped up to send Goodman the wrong way.

Dundee suffered further woe in the 90th minute when sub Besir was shown a red card for a reckless challenge on Magnusson, and they were punished again as Kerjota rifled home a low angled finish after a short corner was worked to him just inside the box.

What the managers said...

Hearts boss Wouter Vrancken:

"If you win a derby and you then lose this weekend, you bring the focus on the negative; you lose the emotion of the derby a bit.

"So after a setback in a difficult game and against a side who defended really low, I was really happy to see that we stayed in the game and we kept pushing to get what we deserved, and at the end they did it.

"It's also good to see that the players don't panic and that they have the resilience and quality to turn those situations around because you have to have it when you want to try to fight for the top spots in the league."

Dundee boss Steven Pressley:

"It was a challenging afternoon, yet we nearly got a really positive outcome," he said. "It was a really difficult game to manage in the respect that we had so many enforced changes.

"There were so many things to deal with. When I consider all the challenges that I had, and the players were faced with on the pitch, I thought they were incredible in their attitude and performance.

"Not in terms of controlling the game or having periods of possession, but just the will and desire and determination to try and get a result."

What the result means and next fixtures...