The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Gartland impressed by ‘dangerous’ Jambos
Dundee assistant manager Graham Gartland was at Tynecastle on Saturday to see tonight’s opponents Hearts in action – and he admits he was impressed with what he saw.
With the Dark Blues having played Aberdeen at Dens on Friday evening, the Irishman and Dark Blues boss Neil McCann took the opportunity to see the Jambos up close against Motherwell.
The Edinburgh side had failed to win in their previous six matches but a Kyle Lafferty strike was enough to seal all three points against the Steelmen.
Gartland said: “Myself and the manager went to watch Hearts on Saturday against Motherwell and I thought they were really good.
“They started the game well and Lafferty caused trouble down the sides of the centre-backs which led to a goal.
“They showed a great resilience to see the game out in the second half when Motherwell threw everything at them.
“I thought they dealt really well with that.
“They have churned out a result which was important for them.
“Hearts are dangerous at Tynecastle and we certainly won’t be taking them lightly – I don’t think we are in a position to take anyone lightly.
“The best thing we have about our group is that we respect everybody we play against.
“We do our homework on them as you can tell, but everybody in our team works hard for each other to make sure that teams likes Hearts are given a game.”
Hearts boss Craig Levein says his New Year’s resolution is to avoid making a repeat of 2017’s transfer blunders.
In his previous role as the Jambos’ director of football, Levein was largely responsible for the club’s recruitment.
But he was forced back into the dug-out by chairwoman Ann Budge after previous manager Ian Cathro was axed on the back of two failed windows.
Now with the January sales just a couple of weeks away, Levein says he is determined not to make the same mistakes.
Levein – whose side ended a six-game run without a win with Saturday’s 1-0 triumph over Motherwell – said: “I’ve spoken regularly about the need to build up confidence and hopefully Saturday’s result will help with that.
“Then once the January transfer window opens up hopefully we can do a bit of business to balance the side up too, which will help as well.
“A lot of what we do next month will depend on what we can afford. There are some players that will probably need to move on but there will have to be a balance there.
“Is next month’s a crucial window? They are all crucial. If you make a mistake it’s not easy to fix.
“We just need to make sure we don’t make any mistakes. That’s the focus for January.”