CRAIG LEVEIN last night remained defiant in the face of a protest from seething supporters after Hearts slumped to a 3-2 defeat against Motherwell.

Jambos owner and chair Ann Budge has repeatedly stated that Levein is not "bulletproof" and following a defensively catastrophic defeat against the Steelmen, several hundred individuals gathered outside the Main Stand to demand she proves it.

A banner reading "Levein Out" was displayed, while the protest threatened to boil over as a handful of punters attempted to storm the reception.

Howls of "sack the board" were also prominent from those who believe Budge will not act.

The aftermath of this defeat was an escalation from the jeers and verbal attacks from the stands which have become common during their recent malaise.

Levein, however, remains in place and steadfast in his belief that he is the man to address a slide which now sees Hearts at the bottom of the Scottish Premiership.

“Do I feel my position is untenable? I don’t,” he said. “I feel that I am more than capable of improving results.

“The season has just started. We are six points off fourth place. I don’t consider that to be a huge problem for us.

“It is just part of the job. Supporters get frustrated that their team at home should be winning.

“My focus is just on the game. I don’t try and listen to anything else. It’s not helpful.”

Similarly unhelpful, was allowing Motherwell to claim the lead in laughably simple fashion. A Liam Polwarth corner found the head of an unmarked Gallagher and he predictably made no mistake from six yards.

The jeers rained down in Gorgie once more.

Motherwell passed up a wonderful opportunity on the cusp of half-time when Colin Doyle was forced into a superb save from Devante Cole after the striker latched on to an Allan Campbell pass. Liam Donnelly then rattled the cross-bar.

Hearts, and Levein, needed a response after the break. Instead, Motherwell extended their advantage five minutes into the second half.

Ikpeazu carelessly surrendered possession to Seedorf as he sought to find Loic Damour and the Dutchman surged forward, unchecked, before unleashing a fire-cracker from 20 yards which crossed the line after crashing off the underside of the bar.

The introduction of Meshino injected some vim and vigour to proceedings and he was key to the hosts halving arrears. He collected a Damour pass, dribbled incisively into the box and - although his low shot was saved by Gillespie - Ikpeazu bundled home the rebound.

However, that was a false dawn. Clare endured a miscommunication with goalkeeper Doyle as they both converged on a long ball forward, allowing Jermaine Hylton to fire into an empty net from distance. Shambolic.

‘Sacked in the morning’ from the Motherwell fans mixed with ‘we want you to go’ from the Hearts supporters as Levein was barracked by all sides.

“I speak to Ann Budge regularly,” added Levein. “We talk about results and if results aren’t good then we look to improve. It is a normal conversation.”