Craig Levein rued Hearts' lack of cutting edge without their star strikers after the table-toppers lost to Kilmarnock.

The Tynecastle side dominated the ball but couldn't find a breakthrough in Edinburgh.

And they were made to pay on 73 minutes when Ross Millen bagged the winner for Killie.

Hearts have now failed to score in four, leaving Levein to call for others to step up with forwards Steven Naismith and Uche Ikpeazu still sidelined.

He said: "There are loads of ways of losing a match but that's the most frustrating, that you have loads of possession and dominate the play.

"We should have been better in the final third but to lose that way makes me feel really frustrated.

"We've created chances - the players who we have out injured, I think it would be easier to score goals if we had them in the team - everybody knows that.

"At the same time, we need people to step up and at times like this, put the ball in the back of the net.

"That isn't just our strikers or midfielders, the centre-backs had opportunities as well.

"It's a little bit frustrating but I have to be mindful that we've had a difficult period. We can't continue to go through the league season winning every match."

Killie move up to third and are just two points off the top.

Manager Steve Clarke reckons his side should be higher in the table despite their impressive start.

He said: "I think we should have more points.

"I think we should be higher in the league. I am probably a little bit disappointed with our points tally to be honest.

"But it is nice at this stage of the season to be so far away from the bottom two and if we can pick up a lot more points over the next eight matches over the winter break then maybe, if we do it properly between now and the winter break, then we can think about mounting a serious challenge for the top six again."

Clarke also confirmed that he expected Stephen O'Donnell to pull out of the Scotland squad after the defender sustained an injury in training.

He added: "Stephen is injured, he got a hamstring injury in training through the week and I would say 99.9 per cent out for Scotland."