Stendel rues Hearts’ lack of cutting edge up front

Daniel Stendel acknowledged Hearts face along and bumpy road to recover y despite some positive signposts in Dingwall.

The Hearts manager saw his bottom-of-the-table team improve on recent league form with a 0-0 draw with Ross County which lopped as ing le point off Hamilton’ s advantage on them in the relegation zone, from five points to four.

But it was also a night in which the Tynecastle team failed to ignite on the back of their rousing Scottish Cup win over Airdrie.

“I said to the players, we need to take the positives – and we are unbeaten in 2020, and in three games in a row,” Stendel said. “But in our situation, we all know we need wins to change where we are in the table. “It’ s along way to go – we are not going to change it in one or two games. “It would have been better if we won, but we need to take the point and go onto Rangers[ who Hearts host on Sunday].”

Stendel admitted there was a lack of cutting edge.

“I expected a better performance, especially in the first half from our team,” he said, “After the victor y over Airdrie on Saturday, I thought we would play with so much more confidence.

“We had problems in our play in the last third and we didn’t really create chances in the first half. In the second half, it was better and we had some good chances, but we need to score the first goal. Then it is easier for us, but Ross County also had a big chance in the second half.”

Having exited the Scottish Cup to Championship side Ayr United in dismal fashion, Count y co -manager Steve Ferguson was satisfied by a convincing response.

He said :“It was much improved from Saturday. We asked the players for a reaction, and to get back to the principles we believe in. I felt from the start right to the finish you could see that in abundance.”