Lawrence Shankland believes Hearts can take confidence from their defeat to Celtic as they bid to turnaround their poor run of results.
The Jambos have suffered heavily with injuries so far this campaign as they continue to juggle domestic matters with Europa Conference League football. Robbie Neilson and Co return to midweek action with RFS making the trip to Tynecastle later this week. A win over the group bottom seeds coupled up with Fiorentina dropping points against Istanbul Basaksehir would take qualification hopes for the next stage to the final game.
In the Premiership, Hearts now trail third placed Aberdeen by five points as the bid to keep in touch with the chasing pack behind Celtic and Rangers ahead of the World Cup. Shankland is adamant the capital club can turn fortunes around and get better results as they look to secure European football once again for next season.
READ MORE: Robbie Neilson highlights two Hearts players for praise as attentions turn to RFS after Celtic loss
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He said: “The quality of the squad doesn’t concern me because I know the players in it. Obviously, we have been a bit disjointed at times with injuries and things that you can’t really control.
"We are working hard to try and make our performances better and the Celtic game showed that we can do that. We can take confidence from that. Everyone is trying their best and we are all sure that we can turn things and get better results.”
On netting a hat-trick from the bench, he added: “When you score three goals against Celtic, you don’t want to put all that work in and get nothing.
"It wasn’t an overall bad performance. They scored two goals by following in and tapping it into an empty net, and that can be avoided. It’s those moments that we need to improve on if we are going to be at that level.”
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