An Alan Maybury strike seven minutes from time handed Hearts all three points and ensured that Dundee's fruitless run continued.

The Dark Blues had looked like securing a point when youngster Duncan MacLean scored his first goal for the club to cancel out Mark de Vries' 47th minute opener.

However, Dundee - who are now in a perilous state of freefall - were denied when Maybury struck with his cultured left boot to take the points to Edinburgh.

Dundee's Neil Jablonski was recalled from a loan spell at Brechin last week and came straight back into the side in place of Lee Mair, whose thigh injury ruled him out.

Striker Bobby Linn, who scored the decisive injury-time goal that dumped the Jambos out of the CIS Insurance Cup in December, missed out with a virus. His place was taken by another youth protégé, MacLean.

The threadbare nature of Jim Duffy's squad was particularly evident in that forward Steven Milne, who has not trained at all this season after rupturing his cruciate ligament, was required to sit on the bench to make up the required 16.

Hearts were also looking to recover from an indifferent 0-0 draw with Motherwell and made four changes, bringing back Steven Pressley, Alan Maybury, Mark de Vries and Jean Louis Valois in place of Robbie Neilson, Robert Sloan, Scott Severin and Kevin McKenna.

The home side survived an early scare when goalkeeper Speroni made a mess of a stopping Andy Kirk's low shot and almost spilled the ball back into the path of the Hearts striker.

Fortunately for the Dark Blues, Lee Wilkie was able to get his body in front of the Northern Ireland international and put him off as he went to shoot.

Hearts encountered an early problem when influential midfielder Phil Stamp hobbled off with an apparent knee injury and had to be replaced with youngster Robert Sloan.

Much of the first half was spent with midfielders gently probing at the other's defence but to little effect - although Dundee's rapidly emerging playmaker Mark Fotheringham produced one moment of rare quality on the half-hour mark.

The ex-Celt, who, at one stage was one of the most sought-after teenagers in the land, took possession of the ball midway inside his own half and threaded a perfectly-weighted ball in behind Hearts' Scotland duo Pressley and Andy Webster.

MacLean chased down the opportunity and at one stage looked to be getting the better of Pressley, but the experienced centre-half cleverly used his body to slow the Dundee youth's progress before eventually crowding him out.

Fotheringham was involved again minutes later, but once more Pressley came to Hearts aid by diving at full stretch to knock wide the youngsters 16-yard shot.

Hearts slovenly end to the first half did not continue into the second and they took the lead after only two minutes, with Dutchman de Vries finding the net for the 10th time this season.

The towering forward took advantage of some alarming hesitancy in the Dundee defence, with Wilkie and his partner for the night Brent Sancho caught entirely flat footed to nod the ball into the far corner of Speroni's net.

Referee Craig Thompson had had a quiet first hour, but things changed in the 66th minute when a long running feud between Paul Hartley and Lee Wilkie came to a head.

First Hartley niggled away at the Dundee man and was booked for a crude challenge on the edge of the area; then Wilkie exacted his revenge by going in heavily on the former St Johnstone man as they contested a 50-50 ball.

Wilkie appeared to win possession fairly but left his opponent writhing on the floor - prompting both sets of outfield players to clash in the middle of the field.

The referee soon calmed things down before booking the Scotland defender and Hearts star de Vries for his part in the unsavoury scenes.

Dundee, to their credit, continued to battle and deservedly drew level with 10 minutes remaining.

Nacho Novo tirelessly chased down a long punt and got his reward as the Hearts defence made a mess of their attempts to clear by hitting the ball into the path of MacLean, who fired home from the edge of the area.

Dundee's joy at apparently salvaging a precious point lasted only three minutes, however, as they slipped behind once more - this time to a low Maybury strike.

The ex-Leeds man picked up a pass from second-half substitute Robbie Neilson and fired the ball beyond Speroni with a sweet left-foot shot.

Teams:

Dundee Speroni, Mackay, Wilkie, Sancho, Hernandez Santos, Smith, Jablonski (Robb 69), Fotheringham, Brady, Novo, McLean (Milne 85).

Subs Not Used: Soutar, McDonald, Cameron.

Booked: Wilkie.

Goals: McLean 80.

Hearts Gordon, Maybury, Pressley, Webster, Kisnorbo, Stamp (Sloan 12), MacFarlane, Hartley, Valois (Neilson 53), Kirk (Wyness 76), de Vries.

Subs Not Used: Moilanen, Weir.

Booked: Hartley, de Vries.

Goals: de Vries 47, Maybury 83.

Att: 6,387

Ref: C Thompson (Scotland).