CRAIG Levein felt Saturday’s 1-0 win over Motherwell was a crucial step towards Hearts playing with more confidence and fluidity.
Kyle Lafferty scored the only goal six minutes before the interval. Motherwell had the bulk of second-half possession and territory at Tynecastle, but Hearts defended well to claim their first victory in seven matches, all of which have been in Edinburgh.
Levein said: “I said to the players afterwards, we can talk as much as we want about deserving to win matches and missing chances and things going against us, but the only thing that makes you feel better is actually winning.
“And before you start to play better, I think you need to win. That will help the confidence in the players, I’m sure.
“In a lot of recent matches we have had opportunities to secure the game and we have lost a goal. So, to give up territory like we did, and to be able to defend the box as well as we did, was quite significant. We can take a bit of satisfaction and confidence from that as well.”
The win came at a cost with both Jamie Walker and Arnaud Djoum going off injured. The former at least is likely to miss the visit of Dundee tomorrow. Levein said: “[Walker] felt his hamstring during the week, he only trained on Friday.
He has caught it before it becomes something major, but it was tightening up. I don’t think he’ll make Tuesday. With Arnaud, it’s the same knee he was out with for a while.
“That’s the third game in a row he has had a kick on it. But I’m hopeful he will be OK for Tuesday.”
Stephen Robinson also had injury problems, with Louis Moult, Trevor Carson and Peter Hartley ruled out beforehand and Chris Cadden (tight hamstring) and Alex Fisher going off by half-time.
However, the Motherwell manager said: “It’s opportunities for people. We then lost Chris Cadden after 25 minutes and Alex Fisher to concussion. Things can sometimes conspire against you but we won’t use that as an excuse.
“I think the least we deserved was a point as there was nothing between the sides. But we didn’t get that and we need to pick ourselves up and be better in the final third.”
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