Hearts manager Craig Levein watched his team maintain their five-point lead at the top of Ladbrokes Premiership with a 2-1 victory over St Johnstone but admits the winning margin should have been higher.

The home side were in control after Peter Haring and Jimmy Dunne scored headers either side of the break but Saints mounted a comeback when Ross Callachan reduced the Perth team’s arrears with a 77th-trike.

Hearts held on to claim their sixth league win from seven outings just there days after they reached the Betfred Cup semi-final with a victory over Motherwell.

Levein said: “This was the one I was worried about at the end of a difficult week.

“It was tough and we made it tougher for ourselves with the number of chances we missed.

“It could have been a much easier afternoon had we been a bit more accurate in front of goal.

“But St Johnstone made us work for it. They have more pace in their team than they’ve had for a while.

“I would much rather have stood in the dugout and seen us take our chances and had an enjoyable afternoon.

“But unfortunately they got back into the game to make it 2-1 and made it more tense than it should have been.

“All credit to the lads, it’s another test of character and a different way of taking three points.

“So I have been really pleased with them, not just today but the whole of this week.”

Saints manager Tommy Wright, meanwhile, admits a spirited attempt to earn a point from the game was too little, too late.

He said: “The finish to the game was how we should have been for the whole game.

“I’ve got no complaints about the result but we started the game too loose. We lacked energy, where Hearts seemed right up for it.

“They were competitive and we lost too many first and second balls.

“In the first eight minutes, we had five or six good opportunities going forward but it was a loose pass and we got caught in possession.

“And we ended up having to defend our own goal as a result of that.

“There was a good response at 2-0 down and we should have scored straight after that which would have made it more interesting.”