Hearts boss Steven Naismith will think twice about making multiple changes again

Hearts manager Steven Naismith revealed he would be less inclined to heavily rotate his squad in future after suffering two defeats in succession.

Naismith made eight changes to his starting line-up for the Premier Sports Cup last-16 tie away to Falkirk after a 3-1 league defeat to Dundee.

The sweeping alterations did not have the desired effect, with Hearts knocked out of the cup by their Championship hosts who scored twice in the second half through Ethan Ross and Dylan Tait.

Naismith said: “It clears it up that we can’t rotate as much.

“We’ve given everybody a chance in the squad to make a mark on the team and say, ‘I’m playing every week’. The last two performances haven’t given us that. So it probably clears that aspect up.

“But we need to make sure we just have an 11 out there that now gets through the games. There’s a tight schedule that we’re going into. We’ll just need to put on a team on the pitch that we think is going to win us the game.”

Naismith revealed the side that started against Falkirk had largely followed the gameplan but fell short when they could not take their chances.

“They worked hard, they pressed them,” he added.

“Falkirk are a really good footballing team but I thought in the first half they very rarely broke through us going through the pitch.

“They went direct and if it was a second ball they got on to it. So that side of the game was decent. We then have the moments that you’ve got to take. But we didn’t do it. And then you leave yourself open.”

Hearts have yet to win a match this season and Falkirk manager John McGlynn felt that uncertainty was something his players could exploit.

He said: “I think mentally, they’ve been a bit Jekyll and Hyde at the moment. They played really well against Rangers but not so well against Dundee.

“That brings a little bit of anxiety from the fans, so we wanted to stay in the game as long as we could.

“Once we settled down, we gained belief in the game and we caused them problems.

“The guys have belief in themselves. We don’t go shouting about it that much but within that dressing room we are a tight bunch.”