Next up on the schedule at Tynecastle Park is Kilmarnock.
It wouldn’t be enough to justify kicking strollers full of toys if Hearts’ 13-point lead as the Premiership’s third-best team were to slightly erode. As such, the public’s response to Saturday’s 2-1 loss at Ross County was composed and thoughtful. Though there may have been a different reaction in private in the locker room, the Edinburgh club has only lost twice in their last 17 games when looking at the wider picture.
There are undoubtedly issues to be addressed: Hearts lost the first half despite poor defending at both of Simon Murray’s goals, and they have already expressed their disapproval of referee Grant Irvine’s calls. Kilmarnock dropped to fourth place after losing in the Highlands, reducing the 13-point deficit to 11 points with Hearts. Kilmarnock’s third-place finish plainly cannot be allowed to turn into complacency because they will be visiting Tynecastle following the international fortnight.
Alan Forrest, a winger, gave an explanation of the Hearts team’s mindset following their Saturday loss. “I don’t believe we can undo what we’ve done. What we’ve accomplished is excellent,” he remarked. “One performance doesn’t make a team bad overnight. All we have to do is examine it. Though we were betting on it to win, no game is simple. We examine and reevaluate it, but I don’t think we should be too depressed. There’s still a void [in third]. Killie is in fourth place and I know they won. We can’t let ourselves get too low and still be prepared for Killie, in my opinion.
“When the mood is high, you want a win [heading into an international break], and it changes everything.” You now have to wait a few weeks for your next game because you were defeated. It aches just a little bit more. Simultaneously, we must review our performance, think back on it, and ensure that we are prepared for Killie.
We know we can succeed because we have demonstrated over this time that we can go to those locations and succeed there. However, you cannot expect to win every game. We know we can win because we’ve been there before, early in the season, and emerged victorious. We are frustrated because we may have deserved something for the effort we put into the game. We could have won on a different day.”
Toby Sibbick, the Hearts defender, looked disheartened after making mistakes at both goals. The visitors claimed that Yutaro Oda, a substitute, scored on the ninetieth minute, and that Stephen Kingsley’s free-kick strike against Lawrence Shankland was unfairly disallowed for offside. As a result, the decision cost them a point. Forrest was eager to stress the importance of group accountability.
“No individual is singled out. Regarding the first goal, he stated, “We need to defend it better. “I recall Zander saving, and I thought we had a chance to clear it, but that’s just how games work—we have to bounce back.” After halftime, we lose the second goal, which deflates you. We huffed and puffed a few times, in my opinion, but it wasn’t meant to be.”
If Hearts had scored earlier in the second half, they would have had more motivation to win. With a “I think so,” Forrest said. We felt like we could score and control the game on another day, but it wasn’t meant to be. We had a few half-chances and a few ball breaks. Everyone thought we could win even though we were behind 1-0 at the half. Not long after the second, we lose the goal, and there’s a mountain to climb. Once more, I felt that we puffed and huffed a little bit and that you would get the outcome another day.
You leave feeling let down because we think we performed fairly well. We haven’t played poorly, in my opinion; we have played much better this season. We were getting better at the game when we concede a soft opening goal that wasn’t good enough from anybody. We had been playing better lately, so it was a little odd that we let in a few goals. I’m not sure if we did enough to win this one, but a draw might be a reasonable outcome. After the interval, we simply need to get back up and get ready for the game.”
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