Robbie Neilson is convinced the results will come for Hearts when their mounting injury problems start to clear up.
The Jambos lost another two players in the 2-0 Premiership defeat to Aberdeen at PIttodrie on Sunday. Andy Halliday had to come off after less than ten minutes while Peter Haring was in a bad way following a head knock late on and needed to be stretchered off.
Those latest losses take the total number of injured members of Neilson’s squad up to 11 ahead of facing champions Celtic at Tynecastle next week. The boss is hopeful of having one or two back for that game, but has charged those filling in to grasp their chance in the meantime: “For me, it’s an opportunity for people to get game time and show what they’ve got,” he told BBC Sportsound. "We’ve got a lot of young players around the squad who are coming on and starting games. It’s a great opportunity, but it’s up to the older ones and the coaching staff to try and lead them, keep them on the right path and we’ll get through this.
“We’ve got a really good squad here, we’re just in a situation where we have 11 first team guys out injured. Once they start to come back and we drip feed them in, then the results will come.”
Neilson confirmed that Haring had come through the worst effects of a challenge from Marley Watkins. But he’s unsure whether the Austrian will be fit to face Celtic.
“It was a real worry but he’s settled and come through that,” he said. “The medical staff are looking after him and he’ll get assessed over the next couple of days. We’ll go through the concussion protocols and see where he is.
“He’ll be touch and go for Saturday. I think it’s a five or six day turnaround but to be honest, I don’t know the ins and outs of it. The most important thing is Peter’s health and not the game.”
As for Halliday’s condition, Neilson explained: “The boy just came down the back of his Achilles and that was him done for the game. It was an early change for us, but we just had to deal with it. I thought we did that quite well; we settled down, created chances and controlled the game. But it all harks back to that if you don’t take chances, you won’t win games.
“It was a frustrating day in that we created chances that we probably should score. It was similar to last week against Kilmarnock where we created chances and didn’t take them and we lost two sloppy goals.
“We are creating them, just not taking them. At the other end, we’re giving up easy goals. Aberdeen didn’t really have to work too hard for their goals, which happens when you've got a young, makeshift back four.
“We need to make sure the group stays together, focussed and continues to believe in what we’re doing. I’m sure we’ll turn it.”
As for Michael Smith and Josh Ginnelly’s fitness, Neilson said it remains a waiting game.: “We hoped the two of them would be on the pitch towards the end of last week but they’re obviously not,” he said. “Again, we’ll just need to assess them.
“You keep asking me week in, week out, who’s coming back. I’d love them all back for Saturday but the majority, apart from Baningime and Boyce, they're nearly there. We just don’t want to push them too hard and they break down again.”
Craig Halkett is proving a big miss in defence, but Neilson urged caution over the centre back. He added: “He’ll be a week or two before he’s anywhere near it. He came back against Riga and broke down, so we have to be careful with him.”
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