Dundee Utd 1 Hearts 0

From KENNY MacDONALD at Tannadice

WILLO FLOOD feels sorry for his Hearts pals wondering where their next wage is coming from — and is glad he's not one of them!

The Irish midfielder knocked back the chance to join Hearts in the summer and opted for a return to Tannadice instead.

And after United's narrow but deserved win over Paulo Sergio's outfit on Saturday he had consoling words for Irish pal Stephen Elliott, one of the Tynecastle stars sweating on his wages being paid.

With a January clearout next on the Gorgie agenda, Elliott and his mates face an uncertain festive season.

Flood admitted: "There was talk of me going to Hearts in the summer, but after what's gone on I think I was better off coming here — at least there's a bit of bread on the table for my little fella!

"I do feel for the Hearts boys. I've good mates there like Stephen Elliott. It must be really hard for them.

"Anybody who works expects their wages to be paid. People say that it can't affect you when you're playing, but I'm sure it does.

"You're worrying about direct debits and food and overdrafts.

"I hope it gets sorted soon for them because they're a good bunch of lads who play decent football.

"They dug in for themselves and their manager and that shows they've a lot of respect for each other. It shows they're good characters."

Flood insists that if the Hearts players continue to go without their wages the SPL must step into the dispute.

He said: "How long do you let it go on? I think it's only a matter of time before the league steps in.

"They're a really good team — the boy Templeton's a decent player, and they've big Webby at the back.

"But even though our football wasn't that great, we ground it out and got the points. It was a good team performance — we dug deep and we're getting back to being a bit more like ourselves.

"We've tough games coming up but this was a good way to start. We showed a bit of grit and determination which will give us confidence to go to Motherwell next week."

Maybe understandably, Hearts looked lacking in imagination.

They haven't scored in four games and never looked like ending the drought at Tannadice, despite having a lot of second-half pressure as they pushed to try to level Scott Robertson's header.

But there were too many aimless high balls into the United box, most of them comfortably won by the excellent Gavin Gunning.

However Flood — who has scored just once in almost four years — says he's unlikely to follow his midfield mate on to the scoring charts.

He said: "The manager wants us to score more goals but he'll be waiting a while for me to do it. I only score goals of the season!"

Hearts boss Sergio — starting a five-game touchline ban — sat next to the press box, giving us all a good chance to watch him at close quarters as he went through the usual managerial afternoon of tics and grimaces.

He wore an earpiece to communicate with his technical area — at least that was what he seemed to be doing, he could simply have been listening to his iPod.

That theory grew in strength with 15 minutes left when he raced to the front of the stand and waved his arms excitedly during a lengthy discourse with his staff. Hearts made two substitutions a minute later.

But it's just a guess his message got across as, even though the club's media black-out was supposed to end once the SFA dealt with Sergio, there wasn't so much as a cheerio from Hearts before they headed home.

But Sergio told Hearts' TV channel: "I thought we were the better team but we were creating our own problems.

"They created one really good chance and scored. We played a lot of the game in their midfield, sometimes playing well, sometimes making bad decisions.

"One moment we are doing great things, then the next we are doing the most stupid thing you can imagine. We have to talk and see what we can change."