MARK Twain liked the phrase “There are lies, damned lies and statistics” so much that he both purloined and popularised it and this contest reinforced the truth contained therein.

There is a growing band of statisticians who attempt to use figures to analyse the winning and losing of football matches and, doubtless, the hipsters on A View From The Terrace would note that Hearts enjoyed 58 per cent of the possession and forced more corners and may conclude that the visitors were unfortunate to have lost. However, nothing could be further from the truth.

Hearts were abject here, turning in a performance which was flaccid, flat and lacking in flair.

Accies, by contrast, have been rejuvenated by the appointment of Brian Rice, whose arrival has coincided with them claiming 10 points from his first seven games in charge and they thoroughly merited the victory which leaves them six points clear of second-bottom Dundee, who agonisingly saw a point snatched away in injury time against Celtic yesterday, with eight fixtures remaining.

The decisive goal came from Aaron McGowan, who displayed impressive technique and composure to volley home a cross from Lennard Sowah, but the former Morecambe full-back was quick to pay tribute to the transformation wrought by Rice.

“Since the new manager’s come in, he has given us – to a man - a bit more belief,” said the 22-year-old. “We believe now that when we play these big teams, we don’t have to sit back all game and defend. We can attack and get after them because they don’t like it. No one likes it when we get after them.

“On top of that, we work harder in training. He’s got us doing double sessions – it’s not great on the legs but, on days like this, it pays off. We go into every game thinking we can get something from it now.

“I’m not going to sit here and have a go at the old regime; I’m not that sort of person. But since the new gaffer has come in, everything has been positive. You can even see that in the crowd.

“Everyone at the club has had a lift. Hopefully it continues and we can have a good run-in because we don’t want it to come down to the last week – we want to get our own house in order and get safe as soon as possible. That’s our ambition for the season.”

Fact finders may note that Hearts had won eight of their opening 10 Premiership fixtures (losing only once) before their Betfred Cup semi-final defeat by Celtic. They have won only six and lost 10 of their 20 subsequent league games and a Europa League slot is slipping away from them.

“We said before the game that if we want to be qualifying for Europe then these are the games that we have to win,” said Scotland defender John Souttar.

“It’s the same every time you go there – they’ll fight and they’ll scrap and they’ve got a bit of quality and we saw that with their goal. But we weren’t at the races.”