ROBBIE NEILSON, the Hearts manager, was never likely to get carried away by his side consolidating their position in the top three of the Ladbrokes Premiership.

You sometimes get the feeling he could be waved down on the road by a six-headed extraterrestrial and transported to the Mothership for the most intrusive of examinations and barely bat an eyelid.

Beating Ross County, even if it was with 10 men following the sending-off of captain Blazej Augustyn, and putting a five-point gap between them and fourth place in the table is not the kind of thing to have him wide-eyed and babbling.

With Aberdeen slipping up again at home to Motherwell, it is not pushing the envelope too far to state that Hearts are in the title race. It may not last, but they are just three points behind leaders Celtic having played a game more and their supporters certainly seem to find it all vaguely exciting.

Callum Paterson gave the Tynecastle side an early lead in this one and not even the expulsion of Augustyn, sent packing for bringing down Liam Boyce as he skipped through on goal on 48 minutes, would change the almost inevitable destination of the three points with Osman Sow completing the scoring midway through the second period.

This win more than hinted at a side that can deal with adversity. Even so, Neilson insists there is no possibility of them being close to Celtic over the course of the campaign.

"We are far, far away from Celtic," he said. "They are a team full of international footballers and experienced at winning titles.

"We are a team who has just been promoted. Yes, we have had a great start, but the aim at the start of the season was top six. That's still the aim.

"We just went four or five games without getting a result and that will happen again during the season."

Without Augustyn's dismissal, this would, almost certainly, have been even more comfortable for the home side.

The match had been relatively level as a contest until Paterson's emphatic opener in the 15th minute. From then until half-time, though, Neilson's men seized control of affairs and restricted Ross County to very little in the way of meaningful possession.

As clinical as Paterson's finish was, however, the build-up was all a little messy.

Sam Nicholson released a shot that spun high into the air off Chris Robertson and landed on the edge of the penalty box. Nicholson showed great presence of mind to challenge Andrew Davies and Richard Foster when it landed and the ball spilled out to Paterson just over 20 yards out.

His right-footed strike was clean and true and curled so handsomely into goalkeeper Gary Woods' bottom right-hand corner.

It was difficult to see how the visitors would work their way back into the contest at that point. Hearts, without being spectacular, had Ross County, pretty much hopeless from start to finish, very much in a death grip.

Igor Rossi and Augustyn loosened to some degree, though, thanks to an awful foul-up deep in their own territory. Rossi had a pass intercepted by Boyce and Augustyn brought the Irish forward crashing on the edge of the area as he prepared to home in on goal.

Alan Muir, the referee, had little option but to send the Polish centre-back packing. Neilson reacted by replacing Juanma Delgado with full-back Liam Smith and leaving Sow ploughing a lone furrow up front.

For a while, County began to advance further upfield with Boyce forcing Neil Alexander into a low save from a crisp drive, but some truly chaotic defending ended this as a live contest with 22 minutes to play.

Jamie Walker fed the ball onto Sow inside the area after being released on the left by Rossi. The tall Swede drifted inside and skipped wide of the keeper, but the chance looked to have gone when the ball stuck under his feet.

Quite how Woods and his defenders failed to deal with the danger remains something of a mystery, but Sow managed to retain possession despite a couple of challenges and stick out a leg whilst grounded to force the ball into the net from the edge of the six-yard box.

"I have said it before and it got me into trouble, but we do practice with ten men in training," said Neilson. "We were very disciplined."

County, in contrast, were simply never going to score. Craig Curran, on for Brian Graham, proved it in the 72nd minute when hitting the post from a yard or so out following a bout of bagatelle in the area.

"We lost far too many individual battles and handed the initiative to Hearts," said Jim McIntyre, the Ross County manager. "The second goal was abysmal from our point of view."

Hearts (4-4-2): Alexander; Paterson, Augustyn, Rossi, McGhee; Walker (87), Buaben, Djoum, Nicholson (Gomis 76); Juanma (Smith 53), Sow.

Booked: Rossi (10), Juanma (49). Sent-off: Augustyn (48).

Scorers: Paterson (15), Sow (68).

Ross County (4-4-2): G. Woods; Fraser, Davies, Robertson, Reckord (Franks 46); Gardyne, Murdoch (M. Woods 53), Irvine, Foster; Boyce, Graham (Curran 63).

Booked: Robertson (23), Foster (26), Davies (31).

Referee: Alan Muir.

Attendance: 16,264.