Hearts Head Coach Robbie Neilson wore the look of an unhappy man following his team’s 4-2 win over Arbroath in the Scottish League Cup at Tynecastle on Thursday night.
Despite fielding a strong team Hearts struggled against their League Two opponents and progressed to the second round thanks, in part, to a penalty and a goal deep in stoppage time.
“We’ll need to be far better than that against St. Johnstone in the league on Sunday or we’ll get caught cold,” Neilson told the official Hearts website. “The first five minutes were fine, but then we just went flat. We were passing for the sake of passing at times. It wasn’t good enough.
“It was still like a pre-season game, the manner we went about it. Sunday is a totally different ball game. These games are always difficult, I’ve played in them before.
“You’re expected to win and you go through the motions a bit. We discussed things at half time, and we won the tie, that’s the main thing.”
Meanwhile, Nigerian World Cup star Juwon Oshaniwa arrived in Edinburgh on Friday morning to complete his move to Hearts.
Neilson was delighted to finally get his man. “It’s been a long process. We’ve been desperate to get him in, but when he does get into the team he’ll be a real asset. He played in the World Cup last year. He’s got great quality, he’s got pace, energy and he’s a great defender. I’m really excited about getting him in.”
Oshaniwa won’t feature in this weekend’s opening Ladbroke’s Premiership game against St. Johnstone but may be considered for next weekend’s trip to Dundee.
Meanwhile, Hearts have announced there are still a limited number of tickets available for Sunday’s game which kicks off at 12.30pm.
Author of The Team for Me - 50 Years of Following Hearts. Runs Mind Generating Success, a successful therapy practice in Edinburgh. Contact me if you want rid of any unwanted habits. Twitter @Mike1874
