Hearts harried and high-pressed the visitors and 16-year-old midfielder Harry Cochrane scored the opening goal, former Rangers striker Kyle Lafferty adding a second before the break to make it 2-0. David Milinkovic scored twice in the second half, one a penalty.

However, Brown does not believe any sort of blueprint for success against last season's treble winners has been discovered.

The 32-year-old said: "No. Other teams have done that against us as well and we have managed to play football and play through them.

"Aberdeen have done that a few times, pressed us high up the park and put us under a lot of pressure. But we have been very composed and we have played out from the back.

"On Sunday we didn't play very well as a team. The lucky thing about football is that we have another game just round the corner to bounce back, at Celtic Park on Wednesday (against Partick Thistle) in front of our own fans.

"Now it is all about Wednesday for us and how we can bounce back."

Much of the attention was on man of the match Cochrane who was joined by fellow 16--year-old Anthony McDonald in the second half, with 19-year-old Jamie Brandon also featuring.

Former Hibernian midfielder Brown was fulsome in his praise for the Gorgie club.

He said: "It is fantastic for Scotland as well, for young lads to get a chance.

"We saw it at Hibs with myself and a lot of other players coming through at the time and maybe this is Hearts' chance to bring young players through.

"They did really well. They were composed on the ball and they won a good few challenges as well."