Fanfare shows I’m right man for this club, says German

DANIEL STENDEL says the outpouring of support from the Tynecastle crowd yesterday proved that he was the right man to take the Hearts job. A 1-1 draw at home to Aberdeen actually saw the Jambos slip further adrift at the bottom of the Scottish Premiership table. But Stendel, who saw his ten men battle for every ball after Sean Clare was sent off midway through the second half, says the change of atmosphere in Gorgie was hugely encouraging. Speaking after his players had been applauded off the park, the German coach said: ‘What was really important for me was the atmosphere in the stadium. I’m concentrated on the game. ‘But, when I feel that power from the stands, I know it was the right decision to come to Hearts. ‘I said to the players before the game that I had a really good feeling about today. ‘We’ve not had much time between games but the training on Friday was really good. ‘I could feel the power from players who hadn’t played in the last game, from players who were coming back from injury like Conor Washington. ‘I felt like we had so much more power in our team.’ Stendel benched club captain Christophe Berra in favour of Clevid Dikamona, while Andy Irving and Euan Henderson were both promoted to the starting XI. The former Barnsley boss said: ‘We made some changes today. And I think Hendo, Andy, Clevid, they showed us that it was a right decision — they took their chances. ‘For me, it was important that we have players who want to take their chances. ‘We deserved to win. In the last 15 minutes, with a player less, it wasn’t easy for us. ‘But we had two or three situations where we had opportunities to score the second goal. One point is… my first point, yes! ‘I believe that we can improve our players, our squad, before the next time we are back here. ‘We know it’s still a very difficult situation for us, we’re still bottom of the table. ‘But when we play like today, or even how we did for times against Hibs, and we find a goalscorer, we will climb the table. ‘I’m very positive about the games in the new year.’ Aberdeen boss Derek McInnes fears Zak Vyner may be out for the season with a recurrence of a shoulder injury that could require surgery — meaning he’ll have to be ‘smart’ during the January transfer window. ‘Zak has done his shoulder again — for the second time — so there’s a concern there,’ said McInnes, who insisted he had no complaints about the result. ‘Last time he was out for three weeks and the specialist said he didn’t need an operation so it’ll be a revisiting of that and between ourselves and (parent club) Bristol City, we’ll see what’s best for Zak. ‘There’s a real risk that he might need the operation. It would mean he would be out for the season. ‘We’re already without Greg Leigh for two months with a stress fracture. (Craig) Bryson went in for his operation yesterday. So we’ve been without some key players there. ‘If that is the case, hopefully we can do some smart work in January and bring two or three in. ‘On the balance of play we deserved a point today — certainly no more than that.’