Kingsley can feel standards rising
Defender says reaction to Dundee draw buoyed him
STEPHEN KINGSLEY is convinced the silence that descended on the Tynecastle home dressing-room on Saturday was proof Hearts are setting the standards required for a successful season.
The Gorgie outfit finished Saturday afternoon at the summit of the Premiership after extending their impressive unbeaten run to 10 matches.
However, Kingsley has confessed there was still a palpable sense of disappointment after Jason Cummings, the former Hearts and Hibernian striker, had levelled for Dundee against his old club in a 1-1 draw.
The hush that met the players in the dressing-room following the full-time whistle was more akin to a defeat but Kingsley says it was proof of the rise in expectations since the club’s return to the top flight.
“Saturday was a massive disappointment,” said the 27-year-old ahead of the trip to face St Johnstone. “It was quiet in the changing-room and it wasn’t a nice place to be. We drew and it wasn’t a defeat but it felt like that, especially with the way we’ve played all season.
“To put in a performance like that and not have a clinical edge and end product stung. It was such a poor goal to give away. That resulted in a really low atmosphere after the game.
“It’s the standards we all hold ourselves to. Obviously it’s set by the gaffer and all the coaching staff, but it’s standards we set ourselves, because we know we should be winning these games. We’re putting in the performance to win the game, we just haven’t done it.
“It’s going to happen over the course of a season. It’s not going to be all easy-osy, it’s part and parcel of the season that’s going to come, there’s going to be plenty more days like that and we just need to be ready for it. Now we’ve got another game to put it right.”
Hearts have not won in the league away to St Johnstone in 11 years, a dismal run that stretches back to
November 2010. An unlucky 13 trips to Perth have ended in disappointment, most notably the 1-0 defeat in October 2019 that signalled the end for boss Craig Levein.
However, with only Craig Halkett, John Souttar and Liam Boyce remaining from their last McDiarmid Park encounter, Kingsley is adamant the current squad can put that record firmly in the past.
“It’s such a massive game for us at a place we’ve not had much success at in the past,” he added. “I’ve obviously not been here during that time and neither have a lot of the boys in the changing-room, so it’ll be somewhere that we go still full of confidence. We’re still playing good football. I know it’s going to be a tough place to go and a tough team to play against, but we’ll be going there full of belief and hopefully we get the win.
“We can’t really think about what’s happened in the past, whether you’ve played in those games or haven’t. You just need to focus on this game coming up and what we need to do to win the game.”
Meanwhile, the talismanic Boyce is a serious doubt for Hearts with a calf injury and manager Robbie Neilson says the decision on whether he plays will be left to the player. The Northern Ireland striker has bagged 10 goals in 15 appearances this term but limped off after an hour against Dundee.