Manager Stuart McCall has admitted that losing two late goals to Hearts was a bitter blow to take, but he knows looking towards the play off battles we just have to take confidence from the game and take positives.
With a double header against Queen of the South up first as we take the long route back to the Premiership – if that’s to be in 2014-15 – the gaffer told the Official Site that following the Hearts game he got everything he’d asked for apart from the result.
‘We got what we wanted from the players, which was a strong and committed performance. It boiled down to decision making in the end. Cammy has gone to throw a ball out when he probably shouldn’t have done – it’s hit one of their players and they get a chance to put it into our box. But we said before the game that we wanted a strong performance and I think that we got that – there were a lot of good individual performances as well.’
With three substitutes in the final ten minutes of the game, McCall went on to say that he felt he had to make changes because Haris Vuckic was already on a yellow card and we couldn’t risk him missing the play offs with a suspension given his form in front of goal, and of course it was Richard Foster’s first game back following injury and he felt he was struggling with tiredness.
‘We knew today that aerially we would be struggling. They threw a big right back up at the end and, as can happen in football sometimes, with the amount of bodies in the box Zeefuik has put it in. We are disappointed that we didn’t win the game but not disappointed with the performance.’
With defensive issues taking the headlines again, McCall did however feel we should’ve made more of our opportunities at the other end of the pitch.
‘I think that we played some good football ourselves. Zaliukas should score with a free header at the back post to make it 3-0 and it`s game over. Even at the end with the last kick of the game Black – who is a good finisher in training – screws one wide. There were still opportunities there for us, but we know that next Saturday we go to Queen of the South in a positive frame of mind.’
He ends by crediting this season’s Championship champions for their performances, but twists it into knowing that we more than matched them despite their efforts on the day.
‘I thought that we came here to Tynecastle and gave a mature performance for large parts of it. It would have been nice to win the game but just the final decision making in the last ten minutes cost us. There’s no point in looking back now and we know what we need to do, we play Queen of the South next Saturday and we’ll be ready for it.’
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