Jefferies thrilled as Hearts close gap on Old Firm

Hearts boss Jim Jefferies points the way at Fir Park

Jefferies was delighted to pick up a sixth consecutive victory

Hearts boss Jim Jefferies was delighted to see his side beat Motherwell 2-1 and move to within three points of Celtic in the Scottish Premier League.

"It was a fantastic win for us, a great result," he told BBC Radio Scotland.

"Sometimes when you are on runs like this you have to grind it out and we showed that we have those qualities because Motherwell made it hard for us.

"Who would have thought at this stage, after the start Rangers and Celtic got, anybody could get anywhere near."

The Old Firm clubs both won their opening eight matches to open up a an early lead on the chasing pack but Hearts have now picked up six consecutive victories.

"They are big clubs, with good resources and good players but that's eight wins out of nine for us and they've been slipping up," added Jefferies, when quizzed about competing with Rangers and Celtic.

"We'll give it a go and we've certainly put ourselves in a position from where we can challenge."

David Templeton was again impressive for Hearts at Fir Park and the 20-year-old forward played a big part in both goals.

Mark Reynolds knocked in a clumsy own goal after getting in a mess with keeper Darren Randolph, who had saved an acrobatic overhead kick from the youngster.

And Templeton was brought down for the penalty that Kevin Kyle converted to win the game in the hour.

"He's a player, they way he drives at people," the manager enthused.

"Sometimes his first thought is to always take the man on but there are times when he's a little deeper that he can find people and then go and get it again and do his bit.

"That will come with experience and he's a tremendous prospect. He can win you a match and he did that for us tonight, there's no doubt about that."

Inverness, who are unbeaten on the road in league games for over a year are next up at Tynecastle.

And Jefferies is looking forward to the Tynecastle tussle.

"Something's got to give on Saturday," he said. "It sets it up for a cracker."