Stand-in skipper Lee Wallace last night refused to blame injuries for Hearts' defeat to Dundee United at Tannadice.

Morgaro Gomis' late deflected the goal, and despite the fact the Tynecastle side were without a staggering 13 first team players.

And the Scotland international hailed the effort and commitment of his team-mates, stressing his confidence that Hearts will continue to build on the promising start under new manager Jim Jefferies.

Despite the fans that Hearts were without the likes of Marian Kello, Marius Zaliukas, Ismael Bouzid, Ian Black, Michael Stewart, Eggert Jonsson, Laryea Kingston, Andrew Driver, Craig Thomson, Dawid Kucharski, Scott Robinson, Ryan Wallace, and Matthew Park, Lee simply would not tolerate excuses.

"We started off the game exactly like we wanted to by getting in their faces, creating chances and getting on top of them and I feel that we did that," he reflected after the game.

"The manager stressed to us at half time that we had to push for it in the second half as this is a hard place to go and I felt we pushed for it but in the end it wasn't enough to get the win.

"In the end I was really the only player out of position as David [Obua] can play at left back so, like the manager said that to us before the game, we're not going to sit and make excuses and use the number of players we've got out as a get-out clause.

"We started really well but in the end we've lost and we just need to get on with it."

Of course, Lee was employed in a very different position, not just playing centre-half, but slotting in on the right side, next to Jason Thomson.

He produced an immaculate performance, and stressed he'll play wherever required, and would be happy to repeat the performance, albeit with a winning score by the end of next week's game against Motherwell.

"The manager asked me how I felt about playing centre half," Lee revealed, "but I said I was just happy to play anywhere for him and I'm happy to do it again next week where hopefully we'll get back to winning ways. Because when you're winning, everybody's happy."

And the captain echoed manager Jim Jefferies analysis of Paul Mulrooney's magnificent performance.

"Young Paul Mulrooney was probably our best player," he said. "His work-rate was fantastic, he's got great legs and he proved that there's a great youth policy at this club.

"Although there are a lot of players missing it shows the character and commitment of everyone else, playing in different positions. That's a positive."

On Hearts.TV today - Jim Jefferies and Jason Thomson react to defeat at Dundee United and watch all the key match action with extended highlights from Tannadice