Former Hearts duo agree over Wouter Vrancken's Jambos as first-hand look gives them clear feeling

Hearts have been handed praise by Kilmarnock - who have been left pleased with their performance against the Tynecastle side.

Jambos star Laurent Mendy controversially had a goal ruled out by VAR for handball in the Premiership match that eventually finished 1-1. Killie had a one-goal lead for a large spell but Hearts continually put a back line that included club academy graduate Jamie Brandon under threat.

Buoyed by a draw with Aberdeen, win at Hibs and now a point against Wouter Vrancken’s team, Brandon knows how much Kilmarnock had to do in order to take a share of the spoils against his former team.

He said: “I think overall from everyone it was a positive performance. "A bit disappointing to have a goal and we couldn't hold on to the three points, but I think overall it's a positive performance against a good team.

“I think if you look at the last three league games, away at Aberdeen, away at Easter Road and then Hearts here, we've taken five points and there have been positive performances and solid defensively. We took a bit of a stick for that early on in the season, but I think that we can only go on and build on that. We need to remain positive and start climbing up the league after the international break.

“A week is a long time in football. Things can change so quickly. I think these last two performances, getting that first win on the board during the week and then playing against a really good Hearts team and getting a point here where it should have probably been three, everybody can take a lift from that."

Kilmarnock manager Neil McCann meanwhile agreed with Brandon on Hearts being a considerable force to wrestle with. The former Hearts winger added: “You can say if you are looking at it from an objective point of view that Hearts pushed us and had some chances on goal. I am not going to sit and say otherwise, but in terms of sheer endeavour, digging in, they were asking us all sorts of questions.

“Wouter made a number of changes to put us under pressure to give them a change of attack, and us some different problems to solve. When you get so late into the match you are just trying to see it out. It’s not even a brilliant delivery as it’s just sort of hung in the air a little bit. We are first to the connection, don’t connect with it properly, and it ends up in the net.”

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