Aussie defender Kye Rowles continues to develop his partnership with Englishman Frankie Kent and he admitted: “He talks lots.”
The pair could be pivotal as Hearts host Livingston in the cinch Premiership on Wednesday (19.45) as they bid to halt a slide which has seen them lose their last two games, a 4-1 home defeat to Celtic and a 2-1 reverse at Rangers, the Ibrox men scoring two goals in the last three minutes on Sunday.
Rowles said: “I felt fairly comfortable (at Ibrox) even if there was a lot of defending to do. Shanks (Lawrence Shankland) had one off the line and we got lucky with the penalty in the first-half as well.
“Then Zander (Clark) made a few top saves as well, but it did not feel as if we were getting split open too much and I felt pretty comfortable in the block but we are head down and moving on and we are focused on getting the three points on Wednesday.”
Hearts are seventh in the 12-strong table with Livingston two places below them but only one point adrift however the Jambos have a goal difference of minus two against Livingston’s of minus eight.
The Tynecastle team have won two of the last five matches and drawn two with Livi winning once and both teams have identical recent records of lost three, drawn one and won one.
Rowles added: “You don’t want to keep losing. We expended a fair amount of energy out there (at Ibrox) for 90 minutes and then to come away with nothing is pretty gut-wrenching but, at the same time, it gives us confidence and there are plenty of positives. We are trying to focus on them and move on.
“We want to put in a good performance on Wednesday night. We get a chance three days after (Ibrox) to turn the wrong around and it is massive to have these bit games so we can show everybody that we are here and we want to win games and play a good style of football.
“I can’t wait until tomorrow night (Wednesday) and I hope we put in a great performance and the result comes with it.”
He conceded that a win at Ibrox would have been “massive” but added: “We are just going to be positive and on the front foot, we are going to take the game to them and give them no space, no time to breath, and we want to dominate the game.”
Rowles said his partnership with Kent was going “pretty good” and added: “Playing next to Frankie, he is nice and solid in the air and he is a nice cool head and very good leader to have at the back.
“It is good to have him next to me and I think we complement each other fairly nicely so it has been a good partnership and, hopefully, it keeps getting stronger.”
Experienced news, business, arts, sport and travel journalist. Food critic and managing editor of a well-established food and travel website. Also a magazine editor of publications with circulations of up to 200,000 and managing director of a long-established PR/marketing company with a string of blue-chip clients in its CV. Former communications lecturer at a Scottish university and social media specialist for a string of successful and busy SMEs.
