Hearts star refuses to get ‘carried away’ after crushing St Mirren win as season finally springs into life
The Jambos put on an outstanding display to end Neil Critchley’s tenure as Hearts manager on a positive note.
Blair Spittal believes that with Hearts’ decisive 4-0 Scottish Premiership victory against St Mirren at Tynecastle on Saturday, they have at last given themselves a foundation on which to grow at a pivotal point in their campaign.
Attacker Spittal says it was crucial the Gorgie team rallied supporters after a poor start to their domestic campaign, ahead of a busy week that includes a Europa Conference League match against Omonia Nicosia, a Cypriot team, on Thursday, and a short trip across the capital to play Hibs at Easter Road on Sunday.
The way the game went and the outcome pleased new head coach Neil Critchley, but it also moved the Jambos up off the bottom of the table and above their rivals in the Edinburgh derby.
“It was a good day for the team overall and something to definitely build on,” Spittal acknowledged. It was crucial that we started the manager’s reign off well and gained some momentum for Thursday. Not to get too ahead of ourselves, but that was a really excellent performance.
After the Aberdeen match, it is evident that while the performance was strong, the outcome wasn’t. After the game, I stated that it was critical that we support that with both a performance and the outcome, and I
“Although we still don’t want to be in this situation, we’ve managed to get off to a strong start under the new manager, and that’s all we can ask for. In two or three days, the manager was expected to submit a few ideas. Although he acknowledges that it may take some time for it to happen, we have to go out there and rally the support of the supporters. The entire stadium will be present if we continue to put on performances like that and start games as we did on Saturday. Obviously, we haven’t given them anything to cheer about this season thus far.
“We are excited for our upcoming big game on Thursday.” We haven’t faced Omonia before, so we’re not really sure what to anticipate in terms of opposition. However, given that performance, we must anticipate that it will be a tough challenge. When things are going well as players, you want the games to come thick and fast.
Before the game, Hearts supporters were quite curious about Critchley’s initial starting lineup. Although there were no significant changes, the hosts set up in a different configuration, with Beni Baningime and Malachi Boateng serving as a double pivot behind an attacking front four that included Spittal, Yan Dhanda, Kenneth
Spittal responded, “It’s easy to say that, obviously winning 4-0, there’s a feel-good factor within the squad,” when asked directly about his part and whether that was his finest individual effort of the season thus far. We were probably ahead early on because of the manner we played and pressed St Mirren. We mentioned before that we’ve been a little open during this changeover, but we didn’t really give them a chance. We succeeded in keeping control of the game and effectively suffocating it. Because of this, we are able to get into good positions and play the ball.
The manager told the forward player, “I won’t go into too much detail, but it was all about picking up pockets of space.” We were able to put St. Mirren’s defence on the back foot thanks to Kenneth and Lawrence’s effective game-extending tactics. That provided our full-backs with width, and Yan and I am confident that we can produce something if we can go on the half-turn.