Steven Naismith believes yesterday’s friendly encounter with Leyton Orient was a good first step towards being ready for competitive football.
The Jambos took the lead in Gorgie through Liam Boyce’s early opener before being pegged back by Jordan Brown’s header. Moments after the half time, Diallang Jaiyesimi’s close-range finish secured the win for the visitors.
With several new signings getting their first taste of Tynecastle, and recent injury returnees bagging more minutes under their belts, the head coach was satisfied with the runout, if not the result.
Speaking to Hearts TV, he said: “Overall, I think you could see that everybody from both teams wasn’t at their sharpest. The point in these games is to work on that sharpness and get back to it.
“I said before the game that they would cause us problems with the way they play, their set up and their rotations and I think that was the case. It was good for us in terms of our players understanding different triggers and how to press towards that, which worked better in the second half.
“That’s the reason we’ve picked these games and look at the opposition, because you want them to test you so you can identify that. As the game goes on, both teams probably could’ve scored more goals.
“Overall, it’s good minutes for the players. Individually, there were ones that did well, others that probably won’t be as happy as they want to me. For the players, that’s the frustrating part of pre-season. You go through these bits where your mind is working better than your feet are, and that’s just the nature of pre-season.
“We’re in that bit where we’ve got loads of games and I expect that sharpness to progress throughout and to be ready for the start of the season.”
