Martindale's assessment of Hearts and Steven Naismith credit

Hearts recorded 25 shots to Livingston's three but had to wait until the 79th minute to open the scoring through Kenneth Vargas. Naismith's men dominated proceedings throughout and finished with 77 per cent of possession.

READ MORE: Hearts 1-0 Livingston instant analysis: Vital goal, key sub, possible transfer target

"I think you can see what Steven is trying to do," Martindale said when asked what he thought of Hearts under Naismith. "He opened the park up well, they moved the ball well. I'm disappointed with our distances in terms of how aggressive we were, our defensive distances. We were probably 20 yards deeper than we would have liked to have been in the game but I probably have to give Steven and his players credit for that.

"It didn't feel any different to what it has been with previous managers. I don't mean that in a disrespectful manner, I mean whenever you come to Tynecastle, whoever the manager is, it is a difficult game of football. They recruit good players, they've got a good budget, a great stadium, a great fan base. Whenever you are coming here you kind of know what you are going to be up against."

READ MORE: Steven Naismith Q&A: Hearts patience, crowd reaction and Kenneth Vargas impact

Martindale revealed he was looking to make a change "to get the goal" just prior to Vargas' winning strike.

"I think first half we were under a wee bit more pressure than the second half," he said. "I felt quite comfortable in the second half. I was actually looking at making a change, bringing Brucey (Bruce Anderson) on 10-15 minutes to go. We were looking to do that at 80 but you know it is going to be 96, 97, 98 minutes so when you are doing your subs it used to be 75 but probably now looking at the 80 mark for the 15 minutes. We were thinking of bringing Brucey on to get something from the game, to get the goal."