Managers post Hearts

29/07/17: link to audio of both managers post match comments

Allan Johnston was delighted that his side came back from a goal down to take the lead and ultimately quality for the next round of the Betfred Cup.

"There was a lot of quality shown. Obviously when you lose the first goal at Tynecastle a lot of teams would crumble. Up until that point I thought we were probably the better team.

"We had had a really good chance on the counter attack and we got the goal from a bit of really good play from Joe Cardle. It was a magnificent bit of skill and a really good finish.

"We went 2-1 ahead and I don`t think we deserved to lose a goal. We defended really well, we broke on them and were causing them problems. They looked as though they had run out of ideas.

"They started physically putting balls in the box and made us defend because they have a lot of height. It made for a bit of a hairy finish."

Was the manager feel the pressure on Hearts?

"When you lose against Peterhead a big club like Hearts will be disappointed. It can go two ways, they came out flying and put us under a lot of pressure. They have a lot of good players here and I`m sure that they will turn it around.

"You (Hearts) just have to give it a bit of time. They have a lot of new signings, a lot of quality players have been brought in. I`m sure that they will get it right because you can see that the club is going in the right direction with the new main stand, the training ground, the Youth Academy - it is a massive club but sometimes you have to be patient as well.

"We have still to add, we are still really thin on the ground in terms of numbers. We have still to add at least another two or three players - players that can hopefully improve us. That is the hard part, we have been trying to do that for the last month or so."

Will qualification for the next round of the Betfred Cup assist the finances?

"I don`t know, you will need to ask the Chairman that, you never know. It boosts the confidence to come here and get a result and put in a performance like the boys put in, especially some of the individual performances - the two centre halves, the middle of the park - it is hard to name individuals. There were a lot of good performances today."

Asked for an update on Nicky Clark:-

"He has been for his op, it is nothing major and we are hoping that he is back in four to five weeks. We just have to see how he progresses. Dean Shiels will hopefully be back next week and David Hopkirk is coming back as well. Once we get them back we will have strength in depth as well."

The manager said it was frustrating for Nicky collecting that kind of injury (ankle) at this stage of the season:-

"We just had to get it done as quickly as possible because he is a massive player for us. He is a goalscorer but you can see the performance from young Callum Smith today, he is only seventeen. I thought he was incredible, his work rate caused them problems and he is liable to get better as well.

"That is why we played him from the start. We could quite easily have sat in, played five in the middle of the park and defended for long periods but we came here to have a go.

"Callum has a lot of qualities, he is still young with a lot to learn but he is improving training with the first team and obviously if he keeps on progressing like that there will be a lot of teams looking at him."

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