Ian Cathro says it's up to Hearts players to win back trust of fans

Hearts boss Ian Cathro cut a frustrated figure after his team succumbed to a second loss in a week.

Published 25th Feb 2017

Hearts boss Ian Cathro cut a frustrated figure after his team succumbed to a second loss in a week.

Partick Thistle beat Hearts 2-0 in the Ladbrokes Premiership as the Edinburgh side failed to recover from their midweek Scottish Cup derby defeat to Hibernian.

The visitors appeared lacklustre throughout and fell behind on five minutes to a Kris Doolan strike after a defensive lapse from Lennard Sowah.

Hearts striker Esmael Goncalves was then dismissed on 60 minutes after being shown a second yellow card by referee Nick Walsh before Liam Lindsay's volley secured the points for the Jags.

Cathro felt he did not get the response he was looking for after the 3-1 loss to Hibs.

The Hearts boss said: "We wanted to perform in a more dominant way.

"We keep using this word 'fight', and it's partly because I used the word 'fight' but of course it's just the easy way of explaining things sometimes.

"It's details in the game, it's little mini-situations people need to deal with better, knowing how to deal with it better.

"Were we entirely, entirely bad? That would be untrue, but this is a difficult moment.

"We face up to the situation that we're in. We understand it, we're aware of it and we have to deal with it. We get out of it by winning the game on Wednesday night against Ross County and by winning the game after that.

"We need to do it. We need to have clear things in our mind of what needs to improve and we deliver that and then you'll see.''

Cathro also hinted at his disappointment after Goncalves received his marching orders in the second half.

He added: "Difficult moments, team under stress, team under pressure, we need 11 players on the pitch.''

Partick manager Alan Archibald revealed his pride as his team made it two wins on the trot to pull further clear of the Ladbrokes Premiership relegation zone.

He said: "It was a real professional performance in seeing the game out, which is the most pleasing thing.

"We didn't panic. They changed their shape a couple of times and we dealt with it.

"Even when they got the man sent off, with a back three sometimes you might have to change a bit but I thought we managed it really well.

"We had to stop Hearts playing. I know they've had a lot of bad press after the derby but they've still got good players and we had to make sure we stopped them playing@ And we made it a little bit ugly first 10-15 minutes.

"With our pitch that's what we had to do because it does get a bit fiery.

"I said before if teams play midweek they get a bit more tired if they lose a goal, mentally. So it was important that we started well and we did.''