Clinical Hearts moved six points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership after two early goals helped inflict Dundee's ninth loss in 10 league games.

Oliver Bozanic and Steven Naismith struck in the opening 14 minutes to push Craig Levein's side further clear of Celtic and Kilmarnock.

Steven MacLean added a third 21 seconds after the break in an inauspicious home debut for Dundee boss Jim McIntyre.

Calvin Miller dragged a penalty wide on a miserable evening for the hosts.

The defeat leaves the Dens Park side two points adrift at the bottom, with a far inferior goal difference than Motherwell, with McIntyre having lost both games since replacing Neil McCann last Wednesday.

Hearts, meanwhile, have only spilled five points in their opening 10 Premiership games and face Celtic in Sunday's League Cup semi-final at Murrayfield in fine fettle.

• 'There might be pain ahead for Dundee'
• Sportsound podcast from Dens Park
• Relive Hearts' win as it happened

New faces, same result for Hearts

Hearts have now played a game more than their rivals at the top end of the division, but will now take a comfortable cushion into testing league meetings with Hibernian, Celtic and Kilmarnock following Sunday's Murrayfield test.

Levein is without the spine of the side who started the season, but his team show no signs of slipping from the summit and were hardly troubled at Dens.

Jimmy Dunne and Clevid Dikamona are proving able deputies for Christophe Berra and John Souttar; Bozanic is covering for the loss of Peter Haring; while Naismith is continuing his stunning spate of scoring.

The Scotland international nudged in his 10th goal in 14 Premiership games - bustling in at the back post after MacLean flicked on a Michael Smith cross - to double the lead established when Bozanic's stunning 30-yard free-kick reared past a befuddled Jack Hamilton.

And Naismith was also involved in the third. Arnaud Djoum burst into the area and fed the 32-year-old, who shuttled into Callumn Morrison's path. The youngster slashed across goal and the alert MacLean snaked out a leg to jab over the line.

It was the least MacLean - and Hearts - deserved after he kissed the face of the crossbar with an impudent chip and was thwarted by a stunning Hamilton save.

Familiar flaws for panicked Dundee

McIntyre said beforehand that his team needed to be "more streetwise" after they conceded goals from four set-pieces at Livingston on Saturday.

To that end, he restored experienced defender Darren O'Dea - who has only played 51 minutes this term - but inside two minutes another free-kick had winded them.

It was to prove a foreboding portent, with Dundee panic-stricken every time Hearts attacked. Hamilton looked nervous, those in front of him lacked composure, and gaping chasms continually appeared in the defence.

The Dens Park side did look a little more accomplished going forward, but Zdenek Zlamal was untroubled in the Hearts goal; not least by Calvin Miller's 22nd-minute penalty, which trundled a yard or so past the Czech's left-hand upright after Dunne was penalised for grappling with Benjamin Kallman.

Miller skidded an angled shot wide, and Lewis Spence might have done better with a free header, but it took 88 minutes for Dundee's first shot on target - Roarie Deacon's effort, which was easily saved.

Ultimately, McIntyre was left to reflect on how he revives a side who have now suffered six consecutive top-flight home defeats. He has eight days to consider how he might stop champions Celtic extending that run to seven games.

'That squad will get you relegated' - analysis

Former Hearts midfielder Allan Preston on Sportsound

It's been an absolute hammering and 3-0 flatters Dundee. I can't see any positives for them over the last four days - they've changed their goalie, their back four has been different, their midfield is completely different as well and they've changed their strikers, which Jim McIntyre has had to do after having a look at them.

But on the evidence of what I've seen of about 16 players, none of them are good enough. That squad, with that effort, will get you relegated.