Heart of Midlothian 4-1 Dundee Utd: Hosts prepare for Zurich tie with convincing victory

Heart of Midlothian added to Dundee United's misery as early goals in each half helped secure a comfortable Scottish Premiership home win.

Barrie McKay thumped in the second just after half-time and Jorge Grant fired in the third.

Steven Fletcher replied with a penalty before Josh Ginnelly's late finish.

A third consecutive win sends Hearts up to third place ahead of Thursday's Europa League play-off first leg away to Zurich.

For United, having equalled the worst European defeat by a Scottish club with that 7-0 reverse in the Netherlands, there is no respite after a third consecutive defeat that leaves Jack Ross' side third from bottom.

• Reaction & as it happened

Visiting head coach Jack Ross backed his "bruised and sore" players to recover from their thumping in Alkmaar, but the defensive fragility so cruelly exposed by AZ was evident again as Hearts sped into the lead.

Home manager Robbie Neilson had brought Cammy Devlin into the side in place of Peter Haring to "add more energy" into midfield and the Australian gathered from Liam Boyce, turned the ball low from the byeline and Shankland supplied a typical clinical finish against his former side.

Hearts threatened to run riot against a defence all at sea, with goalkeeper Mark Birighitti saving to deny Shankland and McKay.

United gradually recovered their composure and centre-half Ryan Edwards tested home goalkeeper Craig Gordon from all of 40 yards and a close-range ricochet off striker Tony Watt flashed just wide.

However, for the third half of football, United conceded immediately after the whistle as winger McKay rifled a superb drive into the far corner from 25 yards.

When Birighitti could only parry a curling Michael Smith drive, midfielder Grant was the only man to react and the summer arrival from Peterborough United midfielder drove in the clinching goal.

Fletcher's first United goal came controversially when Gary Mackay-Steven nicked the ball off the toe of Mark Behich only to be pulled up for a foul, but Ginnelly restored the three-goal advantage with a clinical breakaway.

Man of the match - Barrie McKay (Hearts)

Hearts show strength, United fragility exposed

With Celtic and Rangers again looking a class above, Hearts are again looking good to be the best of the rest.

Although Robbie Neilson insists his squad is still a little light on personnel, they look to have a better strength in depth that should stand them in good stead given they are guaranteed European group stage football even if they drop down to the Conference League.

The worry for Neilson ahead of Thursday is the final moments at Tynecastle that were peppered with Hearts players going down nursing knocks.

Tynecastle's feelgood factor is in stark contrast to the visitors, who head back to Tayside after conceding 11 goals in two games.

They have replaced a safe pair of hands - Benjamin Siegrist's form winning a move to Celtic - with Mark Birighitti and the Australian is hardly instilling confidence in a defence that has now started three consecutive halves of football by conceding a goal almost immediately.

Ross has a big job on his hands to turn around their fortunes after a fourth defeat in a row at Tynecastle.

What they said

Hearts manager Robbie Neilson: "I thought we started very well, got our goal in the first minute and then for the next 44 minutes we weren't at the races to be honest.

"We didn't get close enough, we were slack in our play and it wasn't until the second half when we showed what we're about. We made a couple of changes tactically at half-time and that allowed us to settle into it."

Dundee United head coach Jack Ross: "Overall, we're nowhere near the levels we need to be at.

"The opening period of the game, first 10 minutes, we looked weak. Our response was okay. The start to the second half again is desperately poor and then the game becomes a struggle.

"We've had a really sore week, a really sore four days. You find out more about yourself in these types of situation. As a squad and as a collective, we're going to have to dig deep ahead of next week."

What's next?

Hearts travel to face Zurich in the first leg of their Europa League play-off on Thursday (18:00 BST) before visiting Celtic next Sunday (15:00), with United hosting St Mirren on Saturday (15:00).