Motherwell manager Craig Brown drives his side forward

Delighted Motherwell manager Craig Brown gave his players the week off after they extended their unbeaten league run to 12 games.

"We're off for a fortnight now and I've given the players a week off, which I think they deserve," he said.

"I think any neutral would agree that, particularly in the first half-hour of the game, we were really on top form.

"We've learned how to defend a lead and we have learned how to be very strong mentally."

Motherwell forged 3-0 ahead before Hearts pulled a goal back, but Brown admitted he was still concerned their opponents may mount a comeback.

However, he knows the Fir Park players have a new-found mentality.

Brown said: "We deserved to be
2-0 up and might have been further ahead before the game flattened a bit, because naturally Hearts are going to come at you when they're behind.

"We got a third goal and I thought it was dead and buried, but Hearts have got resilience so when they made it 3-1 the game was still alive.

"But that's the big difference from the Motherwell before - the players don't at any time consider they can't win the game."

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