Steven Naismith determined to learn from mistakes he made in Dundee defeat

Hearts boss Steven Naismith vowed to learn from his mistakes after conceding he “got some things wrong” that contributed to last weekend’s 3-1 Premiership defeat away to Dundee.

The Jambos players and management were heavily criticised by their supporters after a first-half implosion at Dens Park in which they shipped three goals.

Naismith was critical of his team afterwards but – having had time to reflect – he admitted at his pre-match media briefing ahead of Saturday’s Premier Sports Cup last-16 tie away to Falkirk that some of his own decisions played a part in their downfall on Tayside.

“Last week was disappointing,” he said. “From looking back at it, I think I got some things wrong and that’s probably the biggest thing that made it tough for the players.

“The energy levels and the intensity was the bit that I was putting on the players and that’s not changed but I could have helped them out a bit more.”

Asked if he was willing to expand on what he felt he should have done differently, the 37-year-old said: “No. Just learn from my mistakes, that’s what I’ll do from that.

“As a young coach, I’m going to make mistakes. On my part, I made a couple last week and, yeah, I need to learn from that.”

Naismith is hoping Hearts bounce back with a strong display against buoyant Championship side Falkirk. The Jambos will be without defender Frankie Kent, who has a toe infection, as well as midfielders Beni Baningime and Calem Nieuwenhof.

However, new Colombian left-back Andres Salazar is in contention for a place in the squad after completing his season-long loan move from Atletico Nacional this week.

“He’s fit and available,” said Naismith. “Fitness-wise, in all the testing, he’s not one that’s going to need to be built up, he’s ready to play.

“I’ll expect him to contribute in the coming weeks, for sure. He’s a really good guy to get signed and from the small amount of time we’ve worked with him, you can see his quality.”

Hearts learned on Thursday night that they will face Viktoria Plzen in the Europa League play-off, with the first leg taking place in the Czech Republic next Thursday.

“They’re a team that are regular in Europe,” said Naismith. “They’ve got a way of playing, they’ve not changed too much from last season to this season.

“They’ve got some good quality players that can hurt you so we’ll need to be on it. I think the two European ties we had last season will have given us a good understanding of what it takes to play in Europe and navigate your way through the games.

“It’s a tie where we believe we can go through.”