GMS HOPES HEARTS CAN BEAT AGAIN
GARY MACKAY-STEVEN knows Hearts must keep pumping and show their setback at Celtic was nothing more than a minor blip.
The Jambos lost their first game of the season as they exited the Premier Sports Cup after losing 3-2 at Celtic Park.
GMS knew Hearts didn’t hit the heights that saw them beat Celtic in the league and now they must pick themselves up and get back to winning ways when his former club Aberdeen travel to Tynecastle this weekend.
The winger said: “We just need to make sure this is a little blip, we go again. We’ll be at home and we’ll look forward to that for sure.
“Aberdeen are doing really well lately, there has been a lot of changes there. They will be right up for it.”
He also knows it will be far different at Tynecastle where the majority of fans will be in white and maroon, after going into the lion’s den of Parkhead on Sunday.
“Having supporters is unbelievable.” the Hearts star enthused. “Every player would say the same. It is so good. Can’t wait for that.”
There was a reaction from the Hoops to their painful opening-day defeat in Gorgie.
GMS acknowledged: “We knew they would come out flying. They’ve played really well in the last few games, in Europe, here against Dundee so we knew it was going to be a tough game.
“It was a tough game at Tynecastle, they played well in spells there too. It’s always tough coming here. We need to dust ourselves down, regroup and look at what went wrong and what we can do better.”
GMS admits going in 2-0 down left his side too much to do.
He added: “In the first half they were in the ascendancy, got the first goal and the crowd was with them.
“They played some really good stuff, we were a bit off the pace.
“We were kicking ourselves at half-time. We weren’t at it at all.
“We were a few yards off everyone. They were just playing passes around us and we were chasing shadows a lot of the time.
“It was tough, it was frustrating but we regrouped. The manager tweaked a few things with the formation and it helped. We got closer to their goal.
“We regrouped, changed our shape a little in the second half. It was a little better. We improved, started playing closer to their goal, pressed them higher and better but Celtic played really well.”
Hearts had a chance when Liam Boyce made it 2-1 but Kyogo Furuhashi’s third proved to be the killer goal, despite Aaron McEneff’s late consolation.
GMS added: “They scored at a good time for them, a bad time for us.
“When they get the goal, they get the crowd. The place is bouncing and the players fed off that.”