Head coach Robbie Neilson, Gavin Reilly and Arnaud Djoum have all given their thoughts following the impressive defeat of Motherwell at the weekend.
Taking a six nil victory with goals coming from Igor Rossi, Osman Sow, Reilly, Callum Paterson, Juanma and Djoum on the day at Tynecastle, obviously all three were thrilled at the full time whistle, so starting with Neilson after game interviews with the Official Site he credited a change of attitude from the players for what was our best performance of the campaign so far and our biggest win.
Neilson credited the win over Aberdeen for the turn in attitude.
‘The most pleasing thing was that it came off the back of the Aberdeen game. That was our most complete performance of the season. Last week was a bigger performance, I thought, due to the high profile nature of the game, but to come into this game still in the correct mindset was a great bonus. We had to start of the front foot and pick up where we left off, and that attitude is what won us the game today, I felt. The first twenty minutes were outstanding, and if we see it out, the game`s dead. However, there`s always the concern is if they get a goal they have something to chase, so we had to get the first goal to kill them off.’
With a trip to New Douglas Park to face Hamilton Academicals next weekend, Robbie was quick to say that nobody would be getting carried away though.
‘We`re not getting carried away with the result, we never do. It was a great win but it`s over, and I`m focusing entirely on the Hamilton game. They gave us our first defeat of the season and knocked us a bit for six, so we know they`re a dangerous team. We`ll prepare properly and we`ll be ready.’
Moving on to Reilly, who made it three goals in four games against Motherwell he said the goal was simply the icing on the cake for him and he had been very pleased with his overall performance on the day – and especially pleased with the overall performance of the whole squad.
‘We came out the traps flying from kick-off. Three goals in the first twenty minutes won us the game, so you can`t ask for more. We didn`t even sit back in the second half. We went out and killed the game off properly and professionally. To score six goals with six different scorers shows our quality all over the park. Hearts is a great place to be right now.’
Having had to be patient so far this year, he’s certainly making up for lost time with his current form and he’s been pleased with how he’s slotted in of late.
‘I`m just happy to finally get my chance, and a run of games. The Celtic game was a big opportunity for me, and I`m glad I`ve taken my opportunity to impress. Folk are critical of strikers who don`t score, rightly, but as long as I`m contributing and keeping my place, I`m happy. To be scoring goals regularly now is a bonus for me.’
So finally Djoum, for him it was all credit to his colleagues following the fantastic win and he was obviously delighted to have played his own part in that.
‘It was a great performance. We were continuing the same level we reached against Aberdeen. We have the quality here, for sure. We just keep going like we have in the last two games. They were two of the best performances I`ve seen in my time here.’
With Neilson having spoken previously about Hearts’ inability to kill teams off when we were in the ascendancy and on top, the midfielder went on to say.
‘The manager told us to take our chances more often. Sometimes we create a lot without scoring a lot but you can see that changed today. I think everybody is happy to score goals. Even though it was a penalty, I was happy to score, that`s why I wanted to take it. I want to score in every game. That was the first penalty I`ve taken. But it was 5-0, you know? It`s easier to take a penalty in that situation. I wasn`t going to let anyone else take it.’
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