Robbie Neilson salutes injury hit Hearts as delighted boss makes Ellis Simms confession

Delighted Robbie Neilson praised his patched-up Hearts stars and insisted things were so bad he could only throw on goal hero Ellis Simms for 20 minutes.

The Jambos travelled north without top stars like Craig Halkett, John Souttar, Stephen Kingsley, Andy Halliday, Ben Baningime and Michael Smith but still managed to extend their unbeaten run to nine games.

The Scottish Cup finalists were also able to tighten their grip on third place as they moved 19 points ahead of their nearest rivals Dundee United.

United went ahead through a brilliant Dylan Levitt goal but Liam Boyce and Josh Ginnelly turned the game around before Ryan Edwards levelled for the home team.

That set the way for on-loan Simms to come off the bench and net the winner.

Neilson proudly said: “We have come to the team sitting fourth in the league and won even though we have seven of eight injuries.

“To be honest, Ben Woodburn was the only one of the subs who was properly fit. Ellis Simms has been carrying a knock so we knew we’d only get twenty minutes or so out of him.

“Cammy Devlin isn’t ready to play but we put him on the bench anyway and we also had a couple of young kids who played on Thursday and will play again on Wednesday.

“So we are down to the bare bones but the bones are strong. The players are doing well, the guys who are coming in have been outstanding.

“We made four changes today and then Aaron McEneff went off injured early on as well. But the quality of players who are coming in is very good and you can see that.”

Hearts might have third-place tied up and Rangers at Hampden to look forward but Neilson won’t let his team take the foot off the pedal.

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