Frankie McAvoy admits seeing Liam Boyce and Beni Baningime back playing is 'fantastic' as he reflected on Hearts' defeat to Plymouth.
The English Championship new boys claimed victory in Marbella after Freddie Issak's first half opener proved the difference between the two sides on the day. The Jambos boss believes it was tale of two halves but at this stage of the season it is all about building up to the Scottish Premiership opener early next month and the Europa Conference League qualifiers.
Looking back on the game, McAvoy says there are good points to take away in what is 'very early days' in the pre-season calendar for the Tynecastle outfit. He also reserved special praise for the support out in sunny Spain with their presence making it a much more competitive game for all involved. Speaking to the Hearts official website, he said: "It took us about fifteen minutes to get properly going, after they got the first goal, but we eventually found our feet and did a lot better.
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"Plymouth are probably a bit head of us at the moment in terms of their fitness, and found it a bit easy to play out against us at times.
"The second half saw us get some young lads on, some fresh legs, which gave us a real vibrancy which I thought you could see. Great to see the likes of Boycie and Beni coming back and playing - it's fantastic for us.
"Overall, really pleased with it. The result's probably not what we wanted but it's still very early days and I thought there were some good points to take away from it all.
"It's all about building up to the first games and that's what we need to do. It's extremely warm out here but I thought both teams put on a good show. Great to see the support as well, may I add. They made it a much more competitive game.
"All in all, it's pleasing. The manner in which we lost the goal was frustrating - letting the wide player come inside and shoot. As the game wore on, we started to put our own stamp on the game."
