Steven Naismith was delighted with the character shown by Hearts as they recovered from a “terrible” first half to tighten their grip on third spot in the cinch Premiership with a 3-2 victory over Dundee at windswept Tynecastle.

The Jambos were booed off at the break as they trailed to strikes from Jordan McGhee and Lyall Cameron, but they roared back in the second half to claim a sixth win in seven matches through goals from Calem Nieuwenhof, new recruit Dexter Lembikisa and substitute Yutaro Oda.

It was the second time in successive homes games Hearts had fought back from two down after they salvaged a 2-2 draw with Ross County last month and they are now eight points clear of nearest challengers Kilmarnock in the battle for third.

“Our second-half performance was really good,” he said. “We got chances early and scored a good goal, and we used that momentum and pressure.

“For most of the second half it was attack v defence and we made the right choices when we got good opportunities

“The first-half performance was terrible. We were laboured, slow and played into Dundee’s hands. At half-time this place was toxic.

“The players knew it wasn’t good enough, we knew it wasn’t good enough and the fans let us know it wasn’t good enough, so you are in a really tough spot.

“For us to come back to win is a really good strength to have, that’s twice we’ve been 2-0 down here and we’ve taken points from both games. That probably wouldn’t have happened in previous seasons.”

Hearts captain Lawrence Shankland saw a penalty saved by Trevor Carson at 2-1 down. It was the 18-goal forward’s third consecutive spot-kick miss, but Naismith is adamant he will continue to take them.

“No, because up until three penalties ago it was brilliant,” he said when asked about Shankland’s recent penalty woe.

“It’s the same as when he wasn’t scoring goals at the start of the season and then he went through two months of scoring nearly every week. He’ll keep taking them and he’ll start scoring again.”

Naismith is hopeful that Scott Fraser’s loan move from Charlton will be finalised in time for Saturday’s match at home to Aberdeen.

“No update, we’re still waiting,” he said. “I’m hoping it can be cleared for the weekend but basically we’re sitting waiting for Charlton to sign it off.

“I’ve not got a clue what the issue is but he’s been in here, he’s been about, so hopefully it’s something that doesn’t take too long.”

Dejected Dundee manager Tony Docherty admitted his Dundee team lost their way after the break.

“It feels like I witnessed two teams out there,” he said. “I couldn’t be more happy with the first half, they executed the game plan to the letter.

“I thought we started the second half well but we got caught up. They will learn the hard way from this. It’s important to make key decisions but that cost us tonight.

“We were the architects of our own downfall but we have to focus on the positives and learn to manage games better.”

Recently-appointed St Johnstone boss Craig Levein endured a fruitless return to Tynecastle as his former club Hearts eked out a 1-0 win to make it three cinch Premiership victories in a row for the first time in almost two years.

Four years after being sacked by the Jambos, the 59-year-old was back in the technical area of a ground at which he spent the bulk of his career as a player, two-time manager and director of football.

For much of the first hour, Saints were comfortable and looked equipped to make it three games unbeaten since Levein took charge earlier this month.

But they were undone in the 61st minute as Hearts strikers Liam Boyce and Lawrence Shankland combined to force home the only goal of a tightly-contested match.

Hearts made one change to the side that started the 2-1 win at Motherwell prior to the international break as Jorge Grant replaced Calem Nieuwenhof.

Levein made three alterations to the Saints side that kicked off the 1-0 win over Ross County, with Max Kucheriavyi, Dara Costelloe and Stevie May selected in place of Graham Carey, James Brown and Nicky Clark.

Hearts started brightly and went close to what would have been a stunning opener in the fourth minute but Alex Cochrane saw his shot from the edge of the box brilliantly saved by Dimitar Mitov after a lovely flowing build-up.

The hosts kept the pressure on and Mitov had to make another save from Liam Boyce’s back-post header before Kye Rowles glanced just wide moments later.

Boyce then fired an angled shot into the sidenetting after being slipped through just inside the box in the 11th minute.

Saints had been on the back foot early on but they found their way into the game and almost went ahead in the 23rd minute when Luke Robinson saw a close-range shot brilliantly saved by Zander Clark, who made his first two competitive appearances for Scotland over the recent international fortnight.

The visitors had another opportunity in the five minutes later but Matt Smith blasted wide after being set up by Chris Kane inside the box.

Saints made a change for the start of the second half, with Tony Gallacher replacing Andrew Considine.

The Perth side started the second half strongly and Smith saw a dipping cross tipped behind by Clark before the Hearts goalkeeper was forced to block a powerful Kucheriavyi shot from the edge of the box.

There was relief for the home side, however, when they made the breakthrough in the 62nd minute as Boyce’s close-range effort, from a low delivery from the left by Cochrane, struck strike partner Shankland on its way into the net.

Saints were unable to muster a response as they slipped from 10th to 11th, while Hearts remain in fourth place, two points behind third-placed St Mirren.

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has called for a minimum percentage of away supporters to be enshrined in league rules as he prepares to take his team to what will be an even more hostile atmosphere inside Tynecastle.

Celtic will have 576 fans in attendance for Sunday’s game against Hearts with the home club keen to get more of their own supporters inside the ground following rising demand for tickets in recent years.

The allocation is less than half of what Celtic received in their previous visit and a continuation of a trend.

Rodgers was used to seeing the Roseburn Stand half full of Celtic supporters in his first spell in charge, which included his first domestic game as manager and the game where his side clinched his first title. But previously Celtic fans occupied the whole of the stand behind the goal.

The likes of Aberdeen, Hearts and Hibernian previously took bigger supports to Glasgow too but they have long been restricted to less than two per cent of Celtic Park and Ibrox in allocations measured in hundreds.

The Tynecastle allocation has continued debate over away allocations which has been most starkly felt when Celtic face Rangers in recent seasons.

The tradition of handing about 7,500 tickets to the away team was abandoned by Rangers and fears over the safety of an away following in the hundreds have meant the fixture has been home fans only in recent matches.

The likes of Aberdeen, St Mirren and Kilmarnock have also cut the allocations for Celtic and Rangers fans in recent seasons.

The issue will likely be revisited ahead of Celtic’s New Year derby with Rangers likely to be rebuffed in their request for tickets after the Hoops won at Ibrox earlier this season with no fans present.

Scottish Professional Football League rules are currently vague, stating that a home club must provide tickets for a “reasonable number of visiting supporters…. as may be agreed in advance with the visiting club”. The SPFL board will determine the number if no agreement is reached but that situation has never occurred.

Rodgers accepted Hearts’ right to cut the allocation but he hopes the rules can be made clearer for everyone’s benefit, echoing similar calls from his Hearts counterpart Steven Naismith.

“Every club has got every right at this moment in time, to issue what they want to give to away supporters,” the Celtic manager said.

“Until there is something standardised, Hearts are more than willing to do that.

“Of course as a Celtic manager I love to see more supporters in there of course because they come from all over the place to follow their team.

“But hopefully we can standardise a certain percentage for away supporters and that allows all the supporters of all the teams to be able to go and watch their teams.

“Around some of the grounds, in my first time here and even now…the idea is, of course, if there is more away allocation it allows the ground to be filled, and obviously to give money and resources to the away team, then of course we would like to be able to do that.

“But I also understand it from a football perspective why maybe you wouldn’t want so many away supporters in.

“But hopefully the federation can standardise a number and then we all know where we stand.”

Rodgers backed his team to handle the atmosphere.

“Any team playing away, it’s always nice to have a fairly large group of your supporters there to give you that backing but if they are not there, then we can’t use that as an excuse,” he said.

“We have shown already with no supporters that we can get big results. We will be very much together and the 500-odd supporters that will be there, hopefully we can give them a good day.”

Hibernian head coach Nick Montgomery hailed Elie Youan for his reaction to a half-time warning after the winger netted two goals in 83 seconds to earn his side an Edinburgh derby point against Hearts at Tynecastle.

Montgomery was unhappy with his side’s first-half efforts as they trailed to Alan Forrest’s spectacular strike before Christian Doidge’s 58th-minute own goal put Hearts two ahead.

But Youan struck twice in quick succession midway through the second half after combining with Dylan Vente and both teams collected a cinch Premiership point after a thrilling finale.

Montgomery said: “Elie’s a fantastic player, he could play at the highest level no doubt, but he needs to be more consistent and he knows that.

“I told him at half-time we needed more from him because he’s a player that can win you a game of football.

“There were too many who weren’t good enough in the first half and Elie was definitely one of them but when I asked him to step up he certainly did.

“He gets two goals and we need that from him for 90 minutes, not for 45. If only the game was 45 minutes he would probably be playing in the Champions League.

“But that’s something Elie has to fix, he’s a young player with bags of ability. That’s normal, sometimes it takes young players a couple of years to get that consistency but there’s no doubting his ability. He is a fantastic player and a good lad and second half he reacted really well.”

Montgomery labelled the 2-2 draw “definitely a good outcome in the end”.

“They were a lot better than us in the first half and I thought second half we were the better team,” he said.

“I’m very disappointed in the first half and the way we played and I told the boys at half-time it wasn’t good enough.

“We talked about the emotion of the game during the week and a few too many got caught up with the emotion and they dealt with it better.

“I told them second half they had to go out there and fix it and they did.”

Hearts head coach Steven Naismith bemoaned the 90-second spell which cost his team what he felt would have been a deserved win.

“We put so much into the game and for large parts it was a really good performance,” he said.

“We carried a threat, the chances we had were really good, scored two good goals, and the biggest disappointment is we have given up two goals in the space of a minute-and-a-half that has ultimately cost us three points in what would have been a very good performance.

“I think over time we will look at the performance and be positive but decision-making when it goes 2-1, you can question, and ultimately our defending has cost us.”

Naismith felt the impressive Alex Lowry was tiring as he explained his decision to take the midfielder off in the 62nd minute and replace him with the more defensive-minded Beni Baningime.

Naismith added: “The game was getting a bit more stretched, we weren’t keeping the ball when we should be, because they were committing more bodies forward and it started getting end to end. We didn’t want to lose control of it.

“But ultimately it’s a minute-and-a-half of poor decision-making and defending that has cost us.”

Elie Youan hit two goals in 83 seconds as Hibernian came from behind to seal a 2-2 Edinburgh derby draw at Tynecastle.

Hearts looked firmly in control after a spectacular strike from Alan Forrest and Christian Doidge’s own goal had them two ahead.

But Youan scored with Hibernian’s first two efforts on target midway through the second half ahead of a thrilling finale when both teams went for a winner.

The comeback maintained Nick Montgomery’s unbeaten record as Hibs head coach after five games in Scotland and prevented Steven Naismith’s side from moving ahead of Rangers into third place in the cinch Premiership.

Naismith promoted Forrest and Alex Lowry to his starting line-up, along with the fit-again Cammy Devlin, after the pair came off the bench to fashion the winner against Ross County the previous weekend.

Montgomery started with a positive formation as Doidge partnered Dylan Vente up front with wingers Martin Boyle and Youan outside them. But the attacking line-up did not translate into territory for the bulk of the first half.

Heavy overnight rain had created perfect conditions for slide tackles and referee Willie Collum was busy in the opening 15 minutes, booking Hearts captain Lawrence Shankland and Devlin plus Hibs defender Will Fish.

Lowry made a lively start, curling a left-footed shot off a post from 20 yards and forcing two saves from David Marshall while generally picking out team-mates with clever passes in the final third.

Marshall also denied Shankland before being beaten by a piece of brilliance from Forrest, who had seen plenty of the ball in the opening stages.

The former Ayr and Livingston player collected the ball on the right wing, cut inside, and unleashed a powerful left-footed strike which curled just inside the top corner in the 28th minute.

Hibs took a while to settle after the goal but they did have some pressure late in the half without threatening Zander Clark.

Hearts’ defensive efforts came at a cost when Stephen Kingsley injured himself cutting out a cross. After trying to play on, the left-back was carried off on a stretcher.

The injury blow sparked a reshuffle as Odel Offiah came on at right-back and the rest of the back four moved one space left with Kye Rowles filling Kingsley’s position.

Hearts doubled their lead in the 58th minute when Lowry passed the ball into the goalmouth following his own half-cleared corner and Doidge sliced his attempted clearance behind him and into the corner of the net.

Hibs had several shots blocked in the immediate aftermath of the own goal and they finally got through in the 66th minute when Vente’s first-time pass teed up Youan to fire high into the net from 14 yards.

The same combination soon reaped rewards again as Youan drilled home the Dutch striker’s lay-off from similar range.

Hibs lost Marshall to injury with Max Boruc coming on and the Pole was immediately under pressure. Shankland curled just over after a mazy run and Rowles’ shot took a deflection and hit the bar.

The visitors had chances to seal an unlikely three points but Youan’s low cross was just too far in front of Boyle and Clark stopped Joe Newell’s strike.

Hearts got back on top and substitute Beni Baningime came closest to a last-gasp winner.

Frankie McAvoy is adamant Hearts are capable of turning around their Europa Conference League play-off against PAOK in Greece next week despite suffering a frustrating 2-1 first-leg defeat at Tynecastle.

Lawrence Shankland’s early penalty gave the Jambos a lead but it was swiftly cancelled out by a spot-kick from Stefan Schwab.

Shankland then had a goal ruled out for offside following a VAR check before a 75th-minute strike against the run of the play from Andrija Zivkovic gave the Greeks a crucial advantage.

Hearts must now pull off a victory in the intimidating Toumba Stadium in Thessaloniki next Thursday if they are to qualify for the group stage, but McAvoy remains optimistic.

“We knew it was going to be a tough game and a tight affair,” said the head coach. “It was disappointing that we scored then they got a penalty so early after it.

“Then we score with Shanks and the elation then turned to a sour note when it got chopped off. Then they score from a corner.

“As for emotions, I’m disappointed with the result but in spells I felt our shape without the ball was really good. They’re a good team and they try to hit on the counter and there were some pleasing moments.

“We know what we’ve got to do now – we’ve got to win the game and I believe it’s possible for us to do that. That’s what we’ve got to look forward to in the next leg.

“We just need to make sure we’re prepared as best we can for going to Greece next week knowing that we’ve got to go and win the game.”

McAvoy believes Hearts showed in Thursday’s first leg that they have enough attacking threats to score in Greece next week.

“I thought when we got into good areas we caused them problems,” he said. “First half their keeper made a fantastic save from Shanks, so we know we’ll create chances.

“I think our wide players could cause them issues. We’ve got a good squad. We’ll deal with Dundee as best we can (in the cinch Premiership on Sunday) then really focus on what we’ve got to do in Greece.

“We’ve come a long way since myself, Steven Naismith and Gordon Forrest came in (as a management team at the end of last season) and the players have great belief in themselves.

“That’s important going forward and we’ll have that at the forefront of our minds when we go to Greece next week.”

Hearts suffered a further setback as they lost Barrie McKay to injury midway through the setback.

“It’s too early to say, he felt something in his knee,” said McAvoy, when asked about the extent of the problem. “The guys have to assess it to find how bad it is but it’s too early at the moment.”

Frankie McAvoy savoured “a special occasion” at a packed Tynecastle as Hearts staged a stunning fightback to edge out Rosenborg in a dramatic Europa Conference League qualifier.

Cammy Devlin scored the decisive goal in stoppage time to secure a 3-1 win on the night and a 4-3 aggregate triumph, setting up a play-off round showdown with Greek side PAOK.

Head coach McAvoy believes it was a night to remember for the packed Tynecastle crowd as the Jambos clawed their way back into the match after trailing 3-1 on aggregate six minutes into the second leg.

“It was a roller coaster of emotions at the side of the pitch,” he said.

“We lost an early goal, which wasn’t ideal if I’m honest with you. And we looked a little tentative at the beginning, I don’t know if the occasion got to some of us.

“But character sums up the team. We came back, 3-1 down on aggregate, to win 4-3 on the night and the players deserve immense credit.

“The support drove us on, it was a special occasion. Tynecastle under the lights is difficult and daunting for anyone.

“Rosenborg are a good team, you saw that tonight. They had more of the ball than they did last week and they were more in our faces.

“So over the piece I am delighted for everyone connected with Hearts that we’re through to the next round.

“The ultras behind the goal really make it a big occasion in Scottish football and it is great to see. I can’t speak highly enough of them.

“They drove us on and that’s fantastic. Everyone talks about cliches of a 12th man, they were that tonight.”

Captain Lawrence Shankland started the fightback in the first half before Devlin – not renowned for his goal-scoring – sealed the deal with a double after the break.

McAvoy praised the Australian for his willingness to get forward from his deep-lying midfield role.

“I’m delighted for Cammy,” he said. “We like him. He’s done really well for us since we’ve come in. We’re delighted with him.

“The good thing is he’s getting forward and into the box, which is one of the things we have asked him to do. For me, he is a fantastic young player, a great squad member and we’re delighted with his contribution tonight.”

Cammy Devlin scored a stoppage-time winner as Hearts mounted a stirring fightback from two goals behind on aggregate to eliminate Rosenborg in a dramatic Europa Conference League third qualifying-round tie.

The Jambos, already trailing 2-1 from the first leg in Norway, came from behind in the second leg at a packed Tynecastle to win 3-1 on the night and secure a 4-3 triumph over the two legs, setting up a play-off with Greek side PAOK later this month.

The Norwegians looked to be in full control when an early goal from Isak Thorvaldsson put them 3-1 ahead on aggregate.

But the Jambos came roaring back to level the tie through goals from captain Lawrence Shankland and Devlin. The Australian midfielder then sparked bedlam with his second of the night in added time.

Hearts made three changes to the team that started Sunday’s goalless draw at home to Kilmarnock in the cinch Premiership as 19-year-old Aidan Denholm came in for his first competitive start along with Liam Boyce and Alex Cochrane, while Peter Haring, Alex Lowry and Kyosuke Tagawa dropped out.

A sold-out Tynecastle was at its raucous best as the teams emerged from the tunnel, but the Norwegians silenced the home support just six minutes in.

Thorvaldsson did the damage when he drilled the rebound over the line from the edge of the six-yard box after goalkeeper Zander Clark had done superbly to keep out the striker’s initial header from an Adrian Pereira free-kick.

Hearts almost equalised two minutes later, but Yutaro Oda smashed an angled shot off the far post after being played in to the box on the right by Shankland.

Clark had to make an impressive save in the 12th minute to prevent Rosenborg stretching their lead when he got down to his left to stop Emil Frederiksen finding the net with a low shot from eight yards out after the attacker had got himself clear inside the box.

It proved a pivotal moment as Hearts went straight up the pitch and scored.

Left-back Stephen Kingsley clipped a speculative through-ball in behind and Shankland managed to get himself clear before producing a lovely finish as he nonchalantly chipped the advancing Andre Hansen from the edge of the box.

The Jambos were suddenly full of confidence and they had a great chance to level the tie on aggregate in the 28th minute when Shankland ran on to an Oda pass down the right and saw his angled shot blocked by the legs of the keeper when he had Boyce in the middle begging for the ball to be squared.

Hearts continued in the ascendancy for the remainder of the first half.

In the 40th minute Kye Rowles headed over from Kingsley’s cross and seconds later Cochrane saw a firm low shot from the edge of the box saved by Hansen.

The hosts survived a scare four minutes after the restart when Nathaniel Atkinson had to hook the ball off the goal-line after his own attempt to clear a cross into the six-yard box ricocheted back off team-mate Rowles.

Seconds later Hearts went ahead on the night and levelled the tie on aggregate when Devlin followed up to smash a loose ball high into the net from a few yards out after Boyce’s powerful shot from 12 yards out was blocked by Hansen.

And Devlin had the final say in added time when his low deflected shot from the edge of the box found the net, sparking jubilant scenes inside Tynecastle.

Hearts and Hibernian have been served with a notice of complaint by the Scottish Football Association after disorder among their players and staff at the end of last weekend’s fiery Edinburgh derby at Tynecastle.

At full-time, following a clash that ended 1-1, two skirmishes erupted on the pitch, one directly in front of the two technical areas and another just moments afterwards in the centre circle.

Hearts goalkeeping coach Paul Gallacher and substitute shot-stopper Ross Stewart as well as Hibs manager Lee Johnson and unused substitute Rocky Bushiri were all shown red cards for their part in the post-match chaos.

And on Friday it emerged that the two clubs have been charged, alleged to have breached disciplinary rule 204, which states that: “All clubs and recognised football bodies shall procure that its officials, team staff, employees and players conduct themselves in an orderly fashion at all times during and/or after a match.

“In particular, clubs and recognised football bodies are responsible for ensuring that its officials, team staff, employees and players refrain from any one or a combination of the following: (a) becoming involved in a confrontation; b) conduct that is likely to lead to or to exacerbate or prolong a hostile or argumentative situation with players and/or team staff from the opposing team and/or match officials; (c) conduct that may otherwise incite disorder.”

The hearing for both clubs is due to take place on June 29.