Inside Hearts dressing room as fan fury heard loud and clear and players feel the 'pressure' building
Craig Halkett insists the Hearts dressing room are fully aware of fans' frustrations - but knows the perfect formula to change that.
The Jambos defender has suffered a lengthy period of injuries in the last 18 months but he's back in competitive action and grateful to be back on the grass with Steven Naismith's side. However, results and current form are not what he wants - like his Tynecastle colleagues - and he knows there is enough quality in the squad to turn things around.
It's been a campaign to forget to date with Hearts sitting on just one point - an opening day home draw with Rangers - from five outings in the Scottish Premiership. They suffered a shock Premier Sports Cup exit at the last 16 stage to Championship high-flyers Falkirk while they also suffered Europa League play-off disappointment against Viktoria Plzen. This afternoon they face St Mirren in Paisley with Halkett certain things will transform on and off the park as soon as they get that first victory.
Speaking to Edinburgh Evening News, he said: “It's a bit of both, to be honest. Obviously, you don't want to just ignore what everyone's saying and you want to take it on board. It's just up to us, when it comes to the weekend, to just block it out and do what we've worked on all game.
“When that comes obviously the general persona of what everyone's thinking starts to change and the mood lifts everywhere - fans, players, coaches, everything - and we start going on a run. So I think it's just getting that first win hopefully at the weekend and then things will turn from there.
"The confidence is obviously not as high as it would be if we were winning games and picking up points, but it's something we're all working really hard on. We all want the same goal - players, coaches, fans, everyone at the club. When we come in at the start of the week we're working hard, we're watching a lot of the games back and seeing what we're doing right and obviously the things that we can improve on to make sure we go and start picking up some points.
“As a group collectively we all know what the goal is and we want to win games of football. Obviously, we've not been doing that at the start. Pressure is there when you're at Hearts, you've got pressure every single game no matter whether you're winning or you're losing. So we all know what the situation is, but we're all confident that we've got the quality of squad in that changing room that we can go and turn it around.”