Head coach Neil Critchley says Hearts are expecting a tough test against St Johnstone this weekend, but admitted the men in maroon can take confidence from last weekend’s performance against Rangers.
The Jambos travel to McDiarmid Park this Sunday looking to bounce back from their first defeat of 2025 last time out and despite edging out the Perth side in both of their previous meetings this season, Critchley explained he is anticipating a close encounter.
Speaking to the media at the pre-match press conference, he said:
“It’ll be a tough test. Both games were really close. Obviously, they went in our favour, but they've caused us problems in both games.
“If you take out last week's result, prior to that, they were in really good form. They've had some changes in January with personnel and system change. So, yeah, away from home, we're expecting a really close, tough game.”
Cammy Devlin continues to recover from a head injury sustained on Scottish Cup duty in Paisley and Critchley admits with three games in seven days on the horizon, he’s comfortable with managing his squad if required.
“Cammy's following his return to training protocol, and we'll keep monitoring and assessing him. He's got another 48 hours [before the match], so we're still hopeful that he'll make the game.
“I think all the players are [pushing for more game time]. That's the strength or the beauty of the squad at the moment. We've got to think that we've got three games next week as well.
“We've got a midweek game, so we'll have to manage the squad through the week. That's the message to all the players, you have to train right, you have to be prepared, ready to take the opportunity. I won't be afraid to change the team, win, lose or draw.
“We want to be looking up and competing at the top end of the league come the end of the season. This next group of games is really pivotal to that. We've got nine points to play for in a short space of time. The league can look completely different in seven to ten days' time.”
There will still be many of a maroon persuasion scratching their heads as to how the Jambos were on the wrong end of a 3-1 scoreline last weekend, but Critchley insists everyone took confidence from the manner of the performance.
“Even though we lost the game, I think the players drew a lot of confidence from the way that we played the game. As I say, it's not often you outperform Rangers in lots of different aspects, but the most important aspect is always the scoreline. You can be performance happy, and you're looking for two things, performance happy and results happy.
“You're looking for both of those things. One leads to the other, usually. It didn't lead to the right outcome of the game last Sunday, but I think we played very well.
“You need a little bit of fortune, and you need things to go your way, and we didn't. We had a little bit of misfortune go against us with a couple of incidents, and we weren't clinical when we created numerous good opportunities. And the goalkeeper obviously got the man of the match for a reason.
“We took loads from it. I think the players have had a lift from the way that we played the game, but we're also under no illusions that the St Johnstone game away from home will be a completely different game, as was the St Mirren game prior to Rangers. It was a completely different type of game.”
You can watch Neil’s press conference in full on Hearts TV.
