Neil Critchley has ordered Hearts to approach their five remaining bottom-six fixtures with the same level of commitment they showed in their agonising Scottish Cup semi-final defeat by Aberdeen last weekend.
The Jambos are seventh in the Scottish Premiership and six points clear of second-bottom Dundee, whom they host on Saturday, so they appear to have little to play for other than pride in what is left of a largely deflating campaign.
However, Critchley has told his players they cannot allow their focus to waver in the wake of an intense semi-final in which they were tantalisingly close to holding out for a penalty shootout while playing with 10 men from the 43rd minute onwards before the Dons forced a 118th-minute winner.
“It was obviously a tough few days after the game last Saturday,” said the head coach. “I think you need time to process that type of game and how it ended. But then, gradually as the week progresses, you have to move forward and you have to turn that sort of disappointment into motivation, and that motivation has to become your energy, which I’ve seen within the group.
“It’s on us now to show the right level of commitment, the right level of fight, to make sure that we apply ourselves properly, like we did last week in the semi-final. That level of commitment needs to be there now, between now and the end of the season.
“The results of some of the games recently, we don’t believe have gone our way, but you have to accept that, there’s only us who can change that feeling and we want that winning feeling back.
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“We’ve had a really good couple of days of training. I felt going into the Aberdeen game, there was a good atmosphere, there was a togetherness about the group and I think that was evident in the game. And I feel it again this week, so hopefully we can carry that onto the pitch on Saturday.”
Critchley backed Hearts’ decision to release a statement on Monday condemning refereeing decisions they felt went against them in last weekend’s semi-final and other games this season.
“It wasn’t just (about) Saturday, there’s been an accumulation and at some point, as a football club, I think you have to take a stand and I think we were right in doing that, so I’m fully supportive of that,” he said.
“I try never to blame the referees. If you win or lose, it’s down to us and our performance, generally speaking, so we are where we are because of us, that’s on us.
“However, the margins are so fine that sometimes you need people just to do their jobs and to get those decisions right and we just believe that they haven’t been right, which we can feel a bit aggrieved about.
“But as I say, I don’t stand in front of the players and we have that blame culture. It’s always about how do we improve because then you’re not relying on someone else, it’s always on us.”
