OUR HEARTS WEREN’T IN IT
Dikamona admits Stendel’s side were ‘not ready’ for biggest game of season
SECOND best by every conceivable measure in Paisley, you truly had to remind yourself what was at stake for Hearts.
With their five-year stay in the Premiership on the line, the very least that was expected was evidence of a siege mentality, a willingness to put heads where others would fear to put their boots and bravery on the ball.
What Daniel Stendel’s men served up instead was pitiful. A display so devoid of resolve, heart and quality that it left the majority of their supporters now resigned to their grim fate.
Now four points behind Hamilton and six behind both Ross County and St Mirren, this situation is a living nightmare for the Gorgie club and their owner Ann Budge.
Whatever mess their German manager inherited from Craig Levein in December, there has been scant evidence to date that he can dig them out of an increasingly deep hole.
As encouraging as two wins over Rangers were — one coming in the Scottish Cup — together with a comprehensive win over Hibs at Easter Road, Wednesday’s dismal loss put them in context. Stendel has now presided over 20 league games and has won just twice.
Without a league win outside Edinburgh in a year now, the prospect of a trip to Livingston on Sunday is about as appealing as a wet weekend in Grimsby. Frankly, if such a talented squad couldn’t raise themselves in Paisley, it’s hard to see how their next assignment will be any different.
‘We’re really disappointed with the match against St Mirren,’ said defender Clevid Dikamona.
‘Before we went there, we had done well and had got ourselves into the right position to get closer to all the other teams around us in the relegation battle. So it was really difficult to then play a match like this.
‘We had been on a good run beforehand but the hardest thing in football is to be consistent. When you have shown that you are capable of playing to a certain level, then that is the minimum you must show in every game.
‘It’s hard to stay at that level but that’s why we work hard in training every day. We have to be ready for every game but, the other night, St Mirren showed more than us. That’s not normal because we are fighting for something.’
Six years back, with the club ravaged by administration and deducted 15 points, there was no shame in Gary Locke’s inexperienced squad finishing bottom of the pile.
But if the medicine swallowed back then was necessary after the excesses of Vladimir Romanov’s reign of terror, there is no excuse for the club who rebuilt themselves now ending up in this dire predicament.
Quite how players of the ilk of Michael Smith, Steven Naismith and Conor Washington could become embroiled in such a mess is mystifying. But Stendel has singularly failed to ensure that the whole of the squad is greater than the sum of its parts.
Ross County, Aberdeen and Hibs are next up after Almondvale. If a Houdini-like escape is to be witnessed, it had better start soon.
‘Hearts are a big club and we can’t go down like this,’ said Dikamona.
‘On Wednesday, our usual game was missing. But there are still eight games and 24 points to fight for.
‘We need to show that we will be ready for the next game as we were not ready for St Mirren.
‘Before, we were fighting and won all the battles. On Wednesday night, we did not do that. Every second ball and every battle we lost. That’s why we lost the game.
‘We have to be ready for a fight on Sunday. On Wednesday, we saw the kind of games we are going to have every week after the split when you are up against the five teams at the bottom.
‘So all the games will be like the one against St Mirren. We have to show from the first minute that we are ready to fight.’
Many fans have already seen enough of this apology for a season, though. The anger directed towards Stendel by the visiting support was audible long before they were put out of their misery by the final whistle.
‘I am not worried about the supporters as it’s normal that they were angry the other night,’ said Dikamona. ‘We lost an important game, so their reaction was normal. But I know they will be behind us until the end. Every game they are fantastic, as we saw against Rangers and Hibs. I know they will fight for the club and stay behind us.’
St Mirren were everything Hearts were not. Jim Goodwin’s side deserved to stretch out in the table on the grounds of their unstinting commitment alone, but there was intelligence, too, in the way they got the job done. No mean feat given the vice-like pressure of the occasion.
‘I enjoyed it — it felt like a scrap,’ said Saints’ goal-scoring hero Jon Obika. ‘The boys showed what they are all about.
‘I’m proud of them but we know we have to follow this up.
‘I remember when the game was called off due to the bad weather last month that we wanted it then. We were ready then. But after the Celtic game, everything focused again on Hearts.
‘The gaffer drilled it into us just how important it was and you could tell by the fans just how important it was to them.
‘It was a six-pointer. We knew we couldn’t lose. In training, everyone was talking to each other, saying we were not going to lose it. We were going for the win. You could see the boys had a different energy about them.’
Now up to ninth, St Mirren are entitled to view what lies ahead with a degree of optimism. It has escaped no one’s notice that victory against Kilmarnock tomorrow would cut the gap on the Ayrshire side to a single point.
‘It’s very pleasing,’ added Obika. ‘It just puts a bit more pressure on the teams above us.
‘In these next eight games, we have to show that same fight and more quality in the final third.
‘We had a few breaks but it will come for us. It’s not done yet but this gives us a positive vibe.’