Fighting for our futures? HERE HERE
Stopper Halkett admits there’s no guarantees for any Jambos
CRAIG HALKETT reckons Hearts’ players are fighting on two fronts - to seal a Premiership return and to make sure they are part of it.
The Tynecastle defender insists there are no guarantees that any of the current squad will be part of Robbie Neilson’s plans for next season, even if the job is completed as expected.
The Edinburgh club, while moving 12 points clear at the summit this weekend, were held to a third successive draw after a difficult night in Inverness.
The 25-year-old stressed: “Everyone knows that we are playing for our futures here. The manager has brought people in this season to do a job and get the team back into the Premiership.
“He has said before that he wants to strengthen the squad again, so everyone should feel we are playing for our future and prove that they are good enough to be here next season.
“We have to win the league and that’s the first incentive.
“But another is to make sure you keep performing to put yourself in the manager’s plans for next season too.”
While the bulk of Hearts’ displays this season have been positive in a league they were expected to dominate, Halkett still feels he had his Gorgie colleague shave to strive for better in their last nine matches.
He said: “We knew we were the biggest team in the league at the start of the season. We should be in the Premiership and challenging for the top six and top four. That’s where we feel we should be, so to go and win the league comfortably was the aim. “We have a lead at the top of the table and from now until the end of the season we want to win as many games as we can to wrap it up quickly. “But in football nothing is a given and we have to prove we’re good enough to do that. That’s a challenge and we have to rise to it.” Halkett believes poor starts have been behind the recent shedding of six points in nine games. The latest saw Miles Storey race through to net a 10th minute opener on Friday. Halkett said: “It was another frustrating night for us against Inverness. The last three or four performances haven’t been good enough.
“Everyone knows inside the dressing room that we were flat from the start and we have given ourselves a mountain to climb just to get ourselves back into the game. One small positive we can take is the fact we didn’t lose and we have picked up another point. But from our point of view it wasn’t good enough and we have to do better.
“We have to be on the front foot and try to get that first goal to give us the advantage. Then we can try and build on it instead of having to fight our way back into games like we have recently.
“It’s a shorter season and we only have nine games left. We know we have to win games to get over the line. I don’t think there is more pressure on us, we just know we have to do better.”