HEARTS captain Lawrence Shankland has insisted the Tynecastle club can travel to Glasgow and get a result against Rangers at Ibrox this weekend - if they use their mauling by Celtic as a wake-up call.
Shankland and his team mates crashed to a heavy 4-1 defeat at the hands of the Scottish champions in a cinch Premiership game in Gorgie on Sunday afternoon.
The Scotland striker admitted their display was unacceptable – but he is convinced they can put the loss behind them in their next league encounter in Govan if they learn important lessons from the reverse.
“We need to take it as a wee warning really,” he said. “Celtic didn’t have to work too hard to score their goals. That’s disappointing for us. We came into the game late on, but the scoreline still favoured them heavily.
“Don’t get me wrong, at times some of their one-touch play was really good and they were on it. And when they’ve got that quality, it can cause you problems. There’s no shame in that. But when we look at ourselves, we need to be defensively more solid.”
Shankland added: “But it’s done now and we have to move on to a big week. We can use it in the right way ahead of going to Ibrox. We’ll definitely have to improve to get a result against Rangers.
“When you play the Old Firm, you know they have got that quality. If you are not on the top of your game, they can make things really difficult for you.
“But we need to go in confident. We can’t think about Sunday and think ‘that’s going to happen again’. We can’t do that. We move on. It’s a completely different game, a different team. It will be a tough ask, but we’ll be looking to go there and get a result.”
“It was good to get back on the scoresheet,” he said. “It’s been a wee bit of a drought and I’m glad that it’s over now. So if there any positives to take personally, that can be one.
“I’ve gone through it before. But up until the same date last year, I’d only scored five goals as well so I’m on track for what I did last year. So I can work with that going forward. Perspective is huge in football.
“Of course my game’s not been brilliant at times this season. I’d say myself that I can improve. But, listen, it’s not through a lack of effort.
“I’m working hard and trying my best out there. Sometimes it doesn’t quite work out and you have a wee dip in form. Hopefully that goal can turn things and get me going in the right direction again.”
Shankland added: “It comes through experience. You go through a lot in your career and you learn. There are spells when the goals just don’t flow and there are other when they fly in.
“Most of the time it’s about just getting that one again and you try and build from there. That happened on Sunday so hopefully I can now kick on.
“When you are on one of those wee runs, you second guess runs you make in the box. Sometimes it just feels like you are always making the wrong run or taking the wrong option. That can happen. I managed to get one and hopefully I now go on a wee run.”
