Goals from Andrius Velicka and Kris Boyd took the Gers to within one point of leaders Celtic ahead of next week's Old Firm clash.

But Smith acknowledged that the result had been better than the performance.

"We have played better in matches recently than we did today," Smith told Setanta1 Live.

"We were a bit stodgy throughout today. We had no great consistency in terms of possession and I'm a little bit frustrated that we didn't play better but the most important thing is to win games."

Smith took comfort from the form of his strikers, Boyd taking his tally to 30 while Velicka now has four from his last four matches.

"Velicka has done well lately and Kris Boyd has been good all season," said Smith. "We were delighted to get the goals but we had no great measure of comfort until late in the game."

Looking ahead to the Celtic clash, Smith added: "We have aspirations to win the championship and we need to win games - not just next week but for the rest of the season. It is a big target for us and we are well focused on it."

Hearts boss Csaba Laszlo said: "I thought we were very unlucky today. We played good football. With four games to go we must concentrate on (getting into) Europe."