Cowie: We will need to learn from cup woes
But the midfield ace admits he won’t be lifting silverware until the Jambos jettison their knockout jitters.
Robbie Neilson’s troops were dumped out of the League Cup by St Johnstone in midweek, less than a month after their Europa League hopes were crushed by Maltese minnows Birkirkara.
Defeat to Celtic in the league and an explosive “cheat” row over star man Jamie Walker have added to the Tyencastle club’s woes.
And Cowie, who is desperate to add to the Championship title he won with Cardiff City in 2013, admits Hearts risk hampering their Premiership charge if they don’t learn from their mistakes.
“The St Johnstone game was an opportunity lost,” said Cowie.
“We are a club that wants to be challenging for trophies so it’s disappointing to go out of the cup at such an early stage.
“I thought the game was there for us to win. We had weathered the storm from them, gone 2-1 up and were very comfortable at that stage.
“Those are the things we need to learn from very quickly.
“With the squad we have, we need to be challenging. We need to be making semi-finals and finals – if not winning trophies.
“We are extremely disappointed. At 2-1 up we just need to see the game out.
“It was the same against Celtic on the opening weekend – very comfortable, then we got hit on the counter-attack.
“If you don’t learn quickly, you will lose matches so we need to stick together and do that.
“I’m not going to hide the fact that, no disrespect to St Johnstone, with the squad we have we should be winning a game like Wednesday’s, getting to the next round and challenging.
“We won’t challenge unless we learn. No-one is going to give us anything in this league and St Johnstone are the prime example of that.
“It’s a long season but we need to get it right quickly.”
After being snapped up in January by the Jambos, Cowie is starting to feel comfortable at Tynecastle.
Nevertheless, the former Scotland man admits his Hearts career hasn’t got off to a flyer
Injury and a lack of form have both played a part in his tentative start.
Fortunately, both are things he feels he is finally on the road to remedying
“I’ve said a few times that I’m so disappointed with the way it’s gone for me at Hearts,” he said.
“I had a niggly injury last season but I had a great pre-season and I’m starting to feel fit.
“The fact I’ve just played SundayWednesday-Saturday this week is a good sign.
“I need to try and get in the Hearts team because the manager has very good options in the position I play.
“I need to make sure I’m fit and ready.”