Hearts’ Peter Haring didn’t mince his words when looking back at the recent 3-1 loss to Dundee at Dens Park. The loss was only the Tynecastle club’s second of the season. However, Robbie Neilson’s side were poor for much of the game, and failed to recover from a first-half display which saw them trail by two goals at half-time.
Haring has disclosed that he knew that Dundee, led by the in-form Charlie Adam, would pose a problem, but that the players just weren’t up to the task.
Players not up to task
“We knew what was going to happen in the first half. We were just not up to it, to be honest” he said (Edinburgh Evening News).
Hearts manager Robbie Neilson and Peter Haring in discussion (Photo by Rob Casey/SNS Group via Getty Images)
Haring hopes that Hearts’ response to the result is the same as when the team lost to Dunfermline earlier in the season. That is, a run of convincing victories.
“We maybe thought that Dunfermline was a wake-up, but I hope we are going to react in the same way. We won the next game three-nil, so we are looking forward to the next few games” Haring mused.
Real test is a week away
Hearts’ next game is a Scottish Cup tie against either Camelon or Brora Rangers. That should be a comfortable win for the Tynecastle side no matter who they face. However, the real test will come when they face Dunfermline in the Championship next Tuesday.
Peter Haring warms up before a game (photo by David Young/Action Plus via Getty Images)
If Hearts can win the game against Stevie Crawford’s side, then it would prove that they have recovered from the loss to Dundee. To do that though, they will need to be up for the game far more than they were against Dundee.