Kevin McKenna's close-range header snatched victory for Hearts seven minutes from time after a pulsating encounter at Almondvale.

In a full-blooded game which swung one way then the other and served up seven bookings, it was Kevin McKenna's close-range header which won the match late on.

Lee Makel gave the home side a deserved early lead before Mark De Vries headed in a first-half equaliser.

Only 90 seconds after the break Andy Kirk put Hearts in front before Colin McMenamin pegged the Tynecastle side back.

But McKenna popped up to send the third-placed visitors nine points clear of Dunfermline immediately below them.

Livingston were first to settle and with only five minutes gone the home side got the early breakthrough they were looking for.

McMenamin, clearly looking to make an impression on his first start of the season, wriggled clear of two challenges before being sent crashing by Steven Pressley's ill-timed lunge on the edge of the box.

Former Hearts midfielder Makel made the Gorgie skipper pay for his mistake as he stepped up to superbly curl the free-kick round the wall and into the corner of Craig Gordon's net for his ninth goal of the season.

The strike gave the home side confidence and they continued to pour men forward at every opportunity but they could not find as second goal as the Hearts defence rocked.

The visitors were forced into the game's first substitution in the 21st minute as Paul Hartley limped off to be replaced by Phil Stamp in the midfield and four minutes later they were back level.

Canadian international Kevin McKenna, playing on the right side of a Hearts back three, launched a long pass from the half-way line, affording De Vries the time to line up the header, out-jump a static Rubio and crash the ball into the net from six yards out.

The goal lifted the Tynecastle side and, spurred on by a tenacious midfield, they grabbed the upper hand but they had to wait until just after the interval to get their noses in front.

Stamp took a short free-kick in midfield and strode forward before unleashing a ferocious drive from 30 yards. McKenzie got across to block the effort but his ill-judged parry fell at the feet of Kirk and he swept the ball home from just inside the box.

As this engrossing match continued to rage from end to end, it was clear the scoring was not finished and it was no surprise when Livingston roared back with the equaliser in the 56th minute.

With three defenders around him, David Fernandez did brilliantly to curl a cross to the back post, where Makel's challenge succeeded in knocking the ball back into the danger area.

McMenamin was the first to react at the edge of the six-yard box and he made no mistake, drilling the ball into the net with Craig Gordon stranded.

Both sides went for the jugular in the closing stages but it was a defensive lapse which saw the Edinburgh side head home with all three points.

Keeper Roddy McKenzie came and flapped at Robert Sloan's in-swinging corner and in a crowded goalmouth McKenna reacted first to nod in the winner.

Teams

Livingston McKenzie, Rubio, Dorado, Andrews, McNamee, Makel, Lovell, O'Brien, Fernandez, McMenamin (Pasquinelli 78), Lilley.

Subs Not Used: Main, McGovern, McLaughlin, Brittain.

Booked: Fernandez, McNamee, Rubio.

Goals: Makel 5, McMenamin 56.

Hearts Gordon, Pressley, McKenna, Webster, Maybury, Hartley (Stamp 21), MacFarlane (Sloan 67), Kisnorbo, Neilson, de Vries (Wyness 71), Kirk.

Subs Not Used: Moilanen, Janczyk.

Booked: MacFarlane, Webster, Maybury, Kisnorbo.

Goals: de Vries 25, Kirk 47, McKenna 84.

Att: 4,450

Ref: I Fyfe (Scotland).