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Neilson Pleased With St Johnstone Victory

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Head coach Robbie Neilson has said he’s delighted with our first victory on our return to the Premiership.

Hosting St Johnstone at Tynecastle today as the flag was unfurled following last season’s Championship title and promotion, it was certainly a high scoring game for the fans but the visitors late surge in front of goal doesn’t really reflect the control we had in the match.

Speaking to the Official Site following the four three victory giving us all three points on the day, the gaffer said that he was confident there was still more to come from the side as we make the step back up but he wasn’t going to be overly worried by the goals conceded as there were far more positives he could take from the game.

Four positives in particular would be a first goal for Juanma, and further strikes from Jamie Walker, Callum Paterson and Sam Nicholson.

‘We knew it would be hard today. All the pressure was on us. Winning the league by so many points, the fans expecting a win, unfurling the league flag, all of this put the attention on us.’

As for the goals conceded and the way we almost threw the game away, he remained somewhat philosophical given how the day played out having already referenced the pressure being all on us.

‘You`re always annoyed to lose any goals, and the ones we lost were poor, but I know that won`t be a regular thing. That back four has never played together before, a lot of them haven`t had a chance to play together yet as a unit, so that chemistry will come later.’

He went on to say that largely the started eleven had been patched together for the league opener, and he concedes that some players haven’t really had a proper pre season to get up to speed, name checking Buaben who had only been training for five days.

‘He said he was struggling at half-time, I asked him for 10 more minutes and he finished the game. I knew we`d struggle in the last half-hour.’

With the poor goals conceded, what did please the gaffer was the response by the side at that point to get themselves back in front once more and he knows that spirit and determination will serve us well moving through the coming months – especially when the team gel properly and get fully up to speed – so he was pleased that attitude carried through from last year.

‘Last season held us in good stead, we won so many games in the last 10 minutes of matches that we still have that spirit and belief that the game can still be won even when we`ve taken a blow. At 3-3 a lot of teams would crumble but we have that extra belief.’

Ending his interview with Juanma making his competitive debut and finding the net after only a few minutes of the first half being played, he added.

‘Juanma is a very good player, that`s why we were so keen to sign him up. He brings a lot to the table, he`s got the strength and physicality of the Scottish game, but he`s also got pace and skill. He`s not nearly fit enough yet, so there`s a lot more to come from him.’

He also bagged the official Man of the Match award on the day as well.

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