Three Hearts transfers earn pundit praise and one Gorgie figure deserves the plaudits amid 'angry football'

Lee McCulloch believes three Hearts signings have made telling impacts - and the work of Joe Savage bringing them in deserves plaudits.

A 2-0 win over Motherwell in the Premiership made it 11 wins from 12 matches for the Tynecastle side across all competitions. They are 14 points clear of fourth-placed Kilmarnock as they look poised to wrap up third for the second time in three seasons.

McCulloch was assistant manager to Robbie Neilson when Hearts last finished third in the 2021/22 season, as Naismith worked as 'B' team boss during the former defender's time in Gorgie. He thinks sporting director Savage deserves plenty of credit for three key signings that have bolstered Naismith's ranks.

He believes cracking the top two will be a stretch, and angry football is working a treat. McCulloch told PLZ: "Really positive. Calem Nieuwenhof, Kenneth Vargas and Frankie Kent really good signings. Joe Savage obviously a big part of bringing them in, deserves a lot of credit.

"But away from that, Naisy deserves a lot (of credit). Naisy is a good coach, said it from day one. I think the stutter at the start was trying to find the identity, the shape the players had been used to for about a year-and-a-half before that.

"He's got that continuity in the team. It's not all about Lawrence Shankland although he's flying, best striker probably in the league.

"Naisy has got them organised, playing good football. He's got them not just keeping possession for the sake of keeping possession, which arguably it was like a couple of seasons before that.

"He's playing angry football, getting balls into the box which Shankland feeds off. So he's playing to their strengths and they're flying in third. Can they break the Old Firm? I'm not sure but they've definitely, for me, cemented third place."