Neil Critchley staying positive despite Hearts near miss

Under-pressure Neil Critchley is adamant there are “more than enough positive signs” that his Hearts side are moving in the right direction despite Saturday’s 2-1 extra-time defeat by Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup semi-final.

The Jambos boss was “really proud” of the way his team played as they had Michael Steinwender sent off just before half-time and then lost Cammy Devlin to a second yellow card in the 26th minute of extra time, just before Dons substitute Oday Dabbagh scored the decisive goal.

After botching the chance to reach the knockout phase of the Conference League when they failed to beat Moldovan side Petrocub and then missing out on the top six of the William Hill Premiership after being unable to beat either Dundee United or Motherwell in their last two league games, the inability to salvage the season by getting to the cup final has increased scrutiny on Critchley.

The Englishman was appointed in mid-October when Hearts were two points adrift at the foot of the table and he believes more context is required when analysing his reign so far.

“If you look at when I took over and we had two points after eight games, we’ve gathered a lot of points,” he said, alluding to the fact only Celtic, Rangers and Hibernian have collected more points than his team across the 25-game period since he took charge.

“If you did points per game in my tenure, we’d be in the top six comfortably. Then we’ve got to a semi-final, and we’ve gone right to the wire with 10 men for a long period, we could have been in the cup final. That’s the margins we’re speaking about, it’s very, very fine.

“So, I think there’s more than enough positive signs. If the players keep showing that level of character, intensity, and that positive manner in which we played (in the semi-final), then I know the direction we’re heading in. Even though it’s very difficult to see that right now, it is moving forward.”

Asked if he accepted that Hearts had fallen on the wrong side of fine margins too often in his six-month reign, Critchley pointed to costly red cards in the league game against Dundee United and in Saturday’s cup semi.

“The last few games, sometimes you feel like things have just gone against you,” he said.

“You need moments and decisions and things to go your way, and you look at our last three performances, we were very good against United in the first 35 minutes, and then we have a sending-off which changes the game.

“And then last week (at Motherwell) we had a disappointment. We weren’t great first half, but we still had one or two really good opportunities and were a fraction away from winning 1-0.

“You can lose some direction and focus, but I’ve got to try and always bring a balanced perspective to that, even though it’s very difficult.

“It’s not the season we’d want, of course not. Hearts should be a team that is always going to the latter stages of cup competitions and competing at the top end of the league, and unfortunately we’re not doing that.

“But now it’s about winning as many games as we possibly can between now and the end of the season, with five games to go, and trying to build some positivity going into the summer, ready for the new season.”