Hearts manager Craig Levein says he can see both the positives and negatives from his side’s 0-0 draw with Livingston.
Livi battled the majority of the second half with ten men as the Jambos struggled to break them down. The result leaves Hearts one point off the bottom.
A point off the basement. (Photo by Ewan Bootman/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Levein says whilst there were ‘frustrations’ to take from the game, he was ‘happy’ with how his players competed.
He told the BBC: “There were quite a few frustrations today. I asked the players to come here and compete which we didn’t do last season and I was happy with that. I thought we competed from the first whistle to the last.
“When we did get a numerical advantage it took us 10-15 minutes to settle down and actually start to pass the ball. I think we were still in fight mode rather than changing it a little bit and using the extra man. So it took us a little bit of time to transition to what we were doing to what we needed to do.
Levein sees both sides of the Livingston v Hearts result. (photo by Alan Rennie/Action Plus via Getty Images)
“Then we did take charge of the game, which you would expect us to do with an extra man and then we suffered from a little lack of quality and decision making in the last third. We got in to very good positions and didn’t take advantage of it.”
Levein must starting turning a draw into Hearts wins
A point on the road to Livi isn’t the end of the world given Hearts’ league position. West Lothian isn’t an easy place to go with the home side proving they can give anyone a game there against Celtic a few weeks back.
But Levein will be disappointed to an extent after how the game played out. Hearts had the numerical advantage for almost half the game and still they couldn’t make it count.
Attacking players like Ryotaro Meshino never got going. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
It’s a fifth Jambos draw of the season. A point is better than zero, but sooner rather than later, Hearts need to start turning these into wins. If they want to climb the table, picking up a point here and there won’t get them very far.
With an away match to bottom side St Johnstone up next, Hearts have to take this as a chance to secure their second three points of the season.