Hearts 1 Dundee 0

But luckily for the Jambos, fellow hitman John Sutton found a route to goal to finally break down Dundee.

Ngoo was left in a panic after being let loose on the Edinburgh roads for the first time.

The on-loan Liverpool striker eventually made it for his home debut — and played his part in a vital win.

For the bulk of the evening it looked like Hearts would have nothing to show for their domination.

They pounded Dundee and hit wood in both halves. Teen debutant Billy King also missed a sitter.

But Sutton combined with fellow sub Arvydas Novikovas to bullet in an 87th-minute winner — just seconds after coming on.

Barry Smith’s strugglers fought hard and defended bravely, but they need more quality to stay up.

Hearts’ kids again showed huge promise but this could have been a farewell appearance for skipper Marius Zaliukas, who is attracting strong interest from Young Boys of Bern and Legia Warsaw.

Hearts handed a debut to 18-year-old King and the youngster was unlucky with a low shot inside three minutes.

But that wasn’t a sign of things to come as a howling wind made even simple passes difficult.

The Jambos mastered the conditions quicker and should have gone ahead in 15 minutes. Jamie Walker’s driving run from deep ended with his shot being blocked by Dundee full-back Gary Irvine.

The ball fell to Ngoo and then rebounded back to Walker, whose hooked effort was smothered on the line by Rab Douglas.

Gary Harkins was making his second Dundee debut and showed some tidy footwork in a packed midfield.

But there was little substance to the visitors’ play — with Hearts keeper Jamie MacDonald redundant in the first half.

Hearts did most of the pressing and the lively King volleyed over from the edge of the box.

Ngoo then burst to life — holding off Declan Gallagher and seeing an 18-yard shot deflected wide. Yet midfielder Walker remained Hearts’ biggest danger and Douglas had to be at his best to keep his low drive out.

Ex-Hibs striker Colin Nish got pelters after catching Andy Webster with a flailing arm.

The Hearts stopper was raging but ref Crawford Allan took no action.

Nish prevented a certain Hearts opener six minutes before the break. King dug out a superb cross to find Ngoo and his goalbound header was deflected onto the bar by Nish.

That let-off roused Dundee and Nicky Riley blazed over from a tight angle inside the box.

Walker threatened at the start of the second half when he poked wide from five yards. He then had a decent penalty claim turned down by ref Allan when Irvine appeared to handle his volley. The Jambos were getting closer and Jason Holt crashed a 30-yarder off the bar with Douglas beaten.

Then came King’s big chance in 58 minutes. The youngster was picked out by Holt and had the entire goal to aim at. But he lost composure at the vital moment and dragged a low shot narrowly wide.

Douglas spilled a King piledriver and then clutched Ryan Stevenson’s low drive as the pressure continued.

Hearts boss John McGlynn gambled by throwing on Sutton and Novikovas — and it paid off.

The little winger sent over a perfect cross and the English hitman buried his header to kill off his old club. Novikovas sent a low shot wide in extra-time as the Jambos easily held on for the win.

HEARTS: MacDonald 6, Mullen 7, Webster 7, Zaliukas 6, Wilson 7, Holt 7 (Sutton 5), Tapping 6, Stevenson 6, King 8 (Novikovas 5), Ngoo 7, Walker 8 (Driver 2). Top Man: Walker. Booked: Stevenson.

DUNDEE: Douglas 7, Irvine 7, Toshney 6, Gallagher 7, Easton 6, Riley 7 (McBride 4), Davidson 6, McAlister 6, Harkins 6, Baird 6, Nish 6. Top Man: Douglas. Booked: Davidson.

Ref: Crawford Allan 7.