Gaffer’s the right man & we’ll prove it with wins

ARNAUD DJOUM last night insisted Ian Cathro has the 100 per cent backing of the Tynecastle dressing room and his team-mates aim to prove it by winning their next two home games.

Hearts face Kilmarnock tonight and are back in Gorgie against Aberdeen on Friday with Cameroon international Djoum adamant their new coach, who has taken just one point from his first three games, will be a success in his first managerial post at the age of 30.

Djoum played well against Dundee on Friday night but was left gutted as Paul Hartley’s men battled back from two goals down to beat the Jambos 3-2.

But the midfielder, who is revelling in his advanced role supporting striker Bjorn Johnsen, is convinced Cathro’s first win is coming.

He said: “We have two home games coming up and it’s very important that we win them. Kilmarnock is first but the Aberdeen home game is also important.

“You can see we are playing good football. We dominate matches but it’s really important that we win them and we will do everything to get a victory in the next game.

“Friday night at Dundee was so frustrating. I’ve never played a game like that before.

“It was the best I have played since coming here. The way we dominated the game and created chances means we’re very frustrated but that’s football.

“Maybe next time we will play badly and we will win the game. We just have to continue to work hard.”

Djoum reckons the style of play former Valencia and Newcastle assistant Cathro is trying to develop at Tynecastle suits his game perfectly and he is convinced it is only a matter of time before Hearts click for 90 minutes rather than for spells as they have done in the three matches the rookie coach has had in charge.

The 27-year-old said: “I’ve seen enough of the gaffer to know he’s really a very good coach.

“He’s smart, we know what we have to do and you could see that in the first half and even in the second of the Dundee game.

“So the way he’s thinking, the way he wants to play suits me, dominating and getting a lot of time on the ball.

“We just have to believe in him. He’s a very good coach and good things will come in the future. Sometimes it takes patience to get better.

“It has taken time to adapt from Robbie Neilson but we’ve only been working with him for three weeks and you can see that we are starting to understand the way he wants us to play.”

But Djoum accepts that playing good football means nothing if the results don’t follow and he understands the need for the Hearts players to beat Killie tonight to give Cathro that first win.

He said: “The next game we have to win for him because every player in the team has a lot of confidence in him.

“The way he wants to play, everybody wants to play like that so against Kilmarnock all of us have to really play for him to give him a good boost.”