Murrayfield stay ends in misery for Hearts
HEARTS boss Craig Levein signed off from Murrayfield yesterday with an admission that he can’t wait to get back to Tynecastle. But he admits that not even the ‘home comfort’ of Gorgie will turn around his team’s current slump — if his players repeat their dismal first-half showing in yesterday’s 2-1 loss to Kilmarnock. Back-to-back defeats to Rangers and now Killie brought Hearts’ fourgame stay at the home of Scottish rugby to a disappointing end. Focus now turns to the first game after the international break, with Partick Thistle due to christen a rebuilt Tynecastle on November 19. Levein, who expects to have Aaron Hughes, Arnaud Djoum, Prince Buaben and Jamie Walker back from injury by then, confessed: ‘If we play like we did in the first half today, going back to Tynecastle
won’t help us one bit. But I think we’ll get at least four players back for the next match. ‘The midfield has been a major injury concern and that will help the situation. Some of the players missing have been starters. ‘Getting back to Tynecastle will enable us to feel a bit of home comfort, which is something we’ve been missing. ‘It just feels better. It’s where we’re used to playing. ‘Historically, we’ve picked up most of our points there. It will help us. You feel relaxed and more comfortable in your own environment. We haven’t had that. Thankfully, we’re nearly back. ‘Mind you, if we play like we did in the first half, it won’t make any difference.’ Hearts looked to have salvaged a point when Esmael Goncalves cancelled out a first-half Kris Boyd goal. But a frenetic exchange of chances in the last five minutes saw Goncalves thwarted by former Hearts goalie Jamie MacDonald at one end before Killie sub Adam Frizzell stuck the winner past Jon McLaughlin less than 30 seconds later. Levein said: ‘I’m disappointed that we didn’t win the match. Did we do enough? Probably not in the first half. We were really poor. ‘We created our own problems by being too negative, by going back the way when we had opportunities to go forward. ‘The crowd were getting a bit anxious about that — and rightly so. But the second half was a hell of a lot better. ‘The one scenario I didn’t envisage, once we got back into the game, was losing. ‘We have a great opportunity, they go straight up the park and score.’ Hughes won’t play for Northern Ireland in the first leg of their World Cup play-off against Switzerland on Thursday but could play in the second leg at the weekend.