Jim Jefferies last night picked out Larry Kingston's performance at Fir Park as the one bright spot on a miserable afternoon as Hearts went down to Motherwell.

The Steelmen secured a 3-1 victory, deservedly earning three points, to stretch their lead over the men in maroon to eleven league points.

But, in his post-match anger, and there was plenty, the manager noted the application of the Ghana international.

Larry played the entire 90 minutes and as the game wore on he showed flashes of the player who quickly established himself as a fan's favourite three years ago.

Since then things haven't gone right for the midfielder but Jim has been happy to wipe the slate clean, and having done that he was encouraged by what he saw.

He said: "The one positive aspect I can take from the day was the performance of Larry Kingston, especially in the second half.

"With what he's been through with injuries and everything we sat down and had a chat and now he's showed today that he can offer something, because he was our best player by a long way."

With the exception of Kingston and David Templeton grabbing a goal in his impressive appearance off the bench there was little for Jim to be content with and he fumed over the performance of his players.

"The first twenty minutes was just disgraceful," he said. "The defending was poor for the first goal from the corner and the second goal was even worse.

"And in that twenty minute period we could have been another goal down, it was really school boy stuff.

"We had a few choice words for them at half time as we didn't show enough application, commitment and a will to win."

It's now two defeats in a row for Hearts going into next week's game against Hibs but as a veteran of derby encounters the Gorgie chief was quick to point out that form doesn't have much to do with an outcome.

And he sent out a clear message to the players who will need to up their game if Hearts are to claim a first victory of the season against the men in green and white.

"It'll be a different game and the form book can go out of the window," he added.

"With the passion shown from both sets of supporters that create a unique atmosphere, and we need to show more passion that we did today.

"It's the first thing we'll look at, and we'll get them working a lot harder. There are a lot of players out there who have to use the time between now and the end of the season to show that they are worthy of a place at this club. A lot of them let themselves down badly today."

On Hearts.TV today - Listen to reaction from JJ and David Templeton and watch all the action from Fir Park