Hearts officially confirmed William Hill Premiership safety, after comfortably defeating Motherwell 3-0 on a sun-kissed afternoon at Tynecastle Park.
Lawrence Shankland capitalised on a howling error from Stephen O'Donnell in the first 45 to register his eighth strike of the season, before Callum Slattery saw his equaliser for the visitors disallowed for offside.
Shankland struck again in the second half after a sweet delivery from James Penrice before Alan Forrest notched just a minute later to make it three goals and three points for Hearts - officially sealing their safety from the play-off spot.
Interim boss Liam Fox made two tweaks to the side that was victorious over Ross County in last week’s meeting in Dingwall as Ryan Fulton made his competitive debut for the Jam Tarts, deputising for the injured Craig Gordon. Meanwhile, Cammy Devlin returned from illness to slot in for Blair Spittal.
The first chance fell the way of the Jambos after just three minutes following some excellent work by Kenneth Vargas to twist away from his marker before hammering an inviting ball across goal, Jorge Grant poking just wide.
Another chance came minutes later as Lawrence Shankland rose to meet a fine Penrice corner, only to see it flicked behind courtesy of a good defensive header from Andy Halliday.
Motherwell went close too, their first clear cut opportunity coming after 19 minutes as Callum Slattery saw a raking free-kick go narrowly over Ryan Fulton's crossbar.
After a bit of huffing and puffing from both sides, the Jambos eventually claimed the lead on the stroke of the half-hour mark, courtesy of Lawrence Shankland, fresh from his goalscoring exploits in Dingwall.
A ball over the top was dealt with in calamitous fashion by Stephen O'Donnell, allowing Shankland to nip in ahead of the Motherwell player, shake him off with ease, before cutting inside and drilling superb, low, effort beyond the reach of Aston Oxborough.
Nine minutes later, Motherwell thought were back on level terms as Callum Slattery drilled a low effort beyond Fulton after a Hearts clearance fell favourably for him in the box.
Slattery's celebrations in front of the Main Stand were premature however, with a subsequent VAR check ruling the Englishman's goal out for being offside.
Hearts almost added a second in the first minutes of added time, a well executed free kick from Jorge Grant and James Penrice saw the latter's low drive almost sneak beyond Oxborough before the Motherwell 'keeper recovered.
HT: Heart of Midlothian 1-0 Motherwell
The men in maroon emerged from the traps for the second 45 with the bit between their teeth: aggressive running from James Penrice preceded another inviting ball across goal that missed an oncoming Lawrence Shankland by inches with 51 minutes on the clock.
It felt like the second was coming, and it duly arrived on the hour mark.
More good running from Penrice on the left saw the defender hook a sweet delivery into the box from deep - with Shankland more than happy to run, jump, and nod a sweet downwards header home to make it 2-0 to the Jambos.
From there, the maroon flood continued, with Hearts' third clocking in just a minute later.
Substitute Yan Dhanda tested Oxborough from a distance with a gorgeous, dipping, strike from the edge of the area. The Motherwell 'keeper palmed the ball back out into danger, with Alan Forrest gleefully running onto the ball and dispatching a cool finish into the net.
Hearts were dominating possession now having found their rhythm. Sander Kartum went close to adding a fourth after 78 minutes as he curled a delightful strike towards goal from distance, with Oxborough at full stretch to tip around the post.
Motherwell didn't offer and troubles to Hearts, and the Jambos cruised to full-time with three goals, three points, and a clean sheet for their efforts.
Hearts: Fulton, Kent, Halkett, Baningime (Nieuwenhof 81'), Grant (Kartum 72'), Shankland (Wilson 72'), Devlin, Forrest (Kabangu 81'), Penrice, Forrester, Vargas (Dhanda 52')
Subs: Clark, Kingsley, Nieuwenhof, McKay, Steinwender, Kabangu, Dhanda, Wilson, Kartum
Motherwell: Oxborough, O'Donnell, Seddon, Sparrow, Slattery (Zdravkovski 80'), Halliday (Andrews 84'), Casey, Miller, Watt (Armstrong 68'), Maswanhise (Dickson 68'), Thompson (Wilson 68')
Subs: Balcombe, Zdravkovski, Paton, Wilson, Ebiye, Dickson, Armstrong, Tavares
Attendance: 18,496
