Claudio Braga and Calvin Miller got on the scoresheet as Hearts closed in on the Scottish Premiership top two with a solid 2-0 win over struggling Motherwell at Fir Park.
Hearts are four points behind second-placed Rangers and eight off leaders Celtic.
A first win in three games for the Edinburgh side consigned Motherwell to a sixth straight defeat, equalling an unwanted record from April 2003. They were booed off the pitch at the interval and at full-time.
Braga got his fifth goal of the season after 29 minutes, climbing high above the Motherwell defence to head into the net. Sub Miller hit a killer second with four minutes left on the clock.
Hearts keeper Beau Reus made useful saves from Jordan McGhee, Emmanuel Longelo and Dylan Levitt in a scrappy first half. The Jambos were clinical with their only clear chance.
The second half saw more huffing and puffing from Motherwell, while Hearts were content to hit on the break.
Motherwell's Seb Palmer-Houlden capitalised on a defensive slip-up four minutes in, but could only find the right side-netting.
Sabah Kerjota had a go from outside the box after nine minutes, but it flew high and wide of the left post.
Longelo went on a run down the left wing on 15 minutes, but his powerful shot was taken by Reus at the near post, at the second attempt.
McGhee linked well with Tom Sparrow and made his way into the box 60 seconds later, but the striker's shot was parried past the right post by Reus.
But Braga gave Hearts the lead after 29 minutes, heading a Kerjota cross from the right into the far corner of the net.
In response Levitt saw a shot brilliantly tipped over the top left corner by Reus, after a mazy run in the box.
Motherwell went close to levelling in the 39th minute when Longelo's corner from the right was hooked just over by Palmer-Houlden.
Joe Hodge drove a cross over the face of goal with no takers early in the second half, and Longelo struck the right post with a wind-assisted corner from that side after 58 minutes.
Hodge had a low shot well saved at the bottom left corner as Motherwell tried to draw level, with sub Eythor Bjorgolfsson also denied.
Hearts bagged their second of the game after 86 minutes as Miller picked up possession outside the box and slammed a shot into the bottom right corner for his seventh of the season.
Motherwell manager Alfred Johansson speaking to Your Site News:
"I think we do things positively, but it doesn't matter in the end if you're not able to compete in both boxes. We didn't compete enough in their box, we didn't compete enough in our box.
"That's what we need to show - that we can take that step.
"They believe in themselves. Of course they believe in themselves, they work really hard every day.
"What I see every day in the training pitch is that the belief, the effort in what we do, in what they do, in what they are capable of, is there.
"These things, they have a habit of going to the negative or to the positive side, like a snowball and right now it's negative.
"We need to go to St Johnstone on Wednesday and we need to show that we are capable of competing better in both boxes."
Hearts head coach Wouter Vrancken speaking to Your Site News:
"For me, it's a massive win here today.
"Everybody knows that two days' rest is impossible to fully recover from another game, and the long travel from Trabzonspor and an away game in a situation where we're in with a lot of players out of have to play out of position.
"I'm really glad that they rewarded themselves and also the circumstances then with the wind.
"It was a battle today and we won the battle. I'm happy to see this."
