Hearts’ poor start to the season gives critics the right to start doubting the club ahead of their Europa Conference League decider against Petrocub.
That’s according to Jambos legend and goalkeeper Craig Gordon, who says he can’t argue against the doubters due to the club’s perilous league position in the Premiership.
Hearts are the current basement boys after losing to 10-man Kilmarnock on Sunday, one of the club’s worst performances of the season.
The Ayrshire defeat left manager Neil Critchley stunned and Gordon confirmed honest chats were had in the Rugby Park dressing room and at Riccarton afterwards.
But now, he admits full focus turns to beating Moldovan minnows Petrocub and progressing to the knockout play-off stage of the Europa Conference League.
Gordon told the press: “We’ve spoken about the (Kilmarnock) game. It was spoken about in the dressing room straight afterwards and we’ve spoken about it since at the training ground.
“And now we switch to look forward to this game and what we need to do to get the win. That now shifts the focus onto this, it’s a massive game and a brilliant one to be involved in.”
Gordon on Hearts doubters after Kilmarnock defeat
On whether people are right to start doubting Hearts’ credentials, Gordon replied: “Yeah, absolutely. We’re at the bottom of the league, they’re quite right to start doubting and it’s up to us to come out the other side of that.
“That is the challenge, we need to start performing. It’s gone on long enough and we need to stop the rot and start winning football matches.
“This is the next opportunity to do that and it’s one that we’re determined to take.”
Hearts won’t take Petrocub lightly
Petrocub are one of the smallest sides in the league phase of UEFA’s third tier competition and currently sit a lowly 23rd in the table.
They’ve lost every game bar one but drew away to Istanbul Basaksehir. So while Hearts are expected to win, the pressure is on to deliver and Gordon thinks it won’t be as easy as some may think.
Gordon, who turns 42 on New Year’s Eve, said: “You never know how these games are going to pan out. We started very well here against Omonoia, got a couple of goals up and controlled the game.
“There’s no guarantee that will happen again. We’ve watched videos on them and they look a decent team. They pass the ball and haven’t lost many goals.
“Nobody’s really hammered them in the last few games they’ve played at this level against a good standard of opposition.
“So they know what they’re doing, this is not an easy match at all. We’ll need to play well to win the game.”