Buzz of SPL can sting

"At the start of the season it was all new to us but having been here before with other teams that have come up, you do hit a lull when you are playing against the better teams.

Martin Hardie has acknowledged that the step up to the SPL has been a tricky one for Pars players who have little experience of their opponents other than watching them on television:-

"There are five of us who have played First Division - Premier - First Division; Potter and Gallacher are exceptions having played the majority of their careers in the Premier League.I came up through the divisions in my early twenties and it is a learning curve when you do come to places like Tynecastle.

"These guys are vastly experienced players; they are at Hearts for a reason.Sometimes we are in a bit of a rush to get the ball forward but they are quite comfortable keeping possession and coming back out"

"When you come up into the Premier League you have the buzz of coming up against the best teams who you see playing live on the telly when you are in the First Division.

"At the start of the season it was all new to us but having been here before with other teams that have come up, you do hit a lull when you are playing against the better teams.  You are not winning and when you come up from the First Division you are used to that winning mentality - maybe three games a month that you could be winning - but in the SPL that could be the reverse and you could be losing three games."

Speaking immediately after the 4-0 defeat at Tynecastle, Martin added:-

"I feel for the fans who have come here in great numbers today. They have come and supported us well, you could hear them at the end of the game singing and chanting away.  From that point of view it is not nice to be stuck at the bottom but we are there and we will learn and got to deal with it.  We need points to take us up a couple of positions because we know even at this point in the season, we are not going to finish third, fourth or fifth.

"We need points from the next couple of games, get some confidence back and start looking ahead."