Frankie Kent's demands after Hearts' defeat at Dundee

Hearts defender Frankie Kent insisted there must be a strong reaction from the squad after Saturday’s 3-1 loss at Dundee. Although the Englishman felt the defensive disorder was uncharacteristic of his team, he acknowledged the need to learn from events at Dens Park.

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Three goals, two in first-half stoppage-time, put Dundee 3-0 ahead at the interval and left Hearts supporters roundly booing their side. Kent’s second-half header added a small degree of respectability to the scoreline from a Tynecastle perspective, but by then Dundee were out of side and heading for a deserved victory.

“I agree it wasn't like us. That hasn't been like us probably since the start of last season. I don't know why it was,” said Kent. “It's probably too early to try and explain it. We probably have to watch it back and see. It was a crap first half, we obviously did a bit better in the second half but they changed how they played. It wasn't good.

“Obviously there needs to be a reaction next time we play. I think I said last season that, with the start we had, it was a long season - which it is. Everything can turn round but we need to get it right and I'm sure we'll be working to do that.”

Last season finished strongly for Hearts as they secured third place in the league and guaranteed European league-stage football. However, that is now in the past and fresh challenges lie ahead. “Yeah, that's it. We've spoken about it,” said Kent. “There's no getting away from that. We know what was needed and we didn't do that on Saturday. We didn't put up as much of a fight as we should have, which is probably the worst thing about it. There were individual mistakes, myself included, so we just need to put it right.”

Both concessions at the end of the first half proved damaging. “At that point, it was 100 miles an hour and we probably didn't make the decisions we should have - definitely from when they scored their second goal,” admitted Kent. “It's a difficult one because I haven't seen that from us in a long time. That 20-minute spell in the second part of the first half was disappointing.”

For some of Hearts’ recent signings, particularly those new to the Scottish game, this was a harsh lesson in how teams can punish slack defending. “I wouldn’t say it's a wake-up call, I feel it's a good learning curve for them,” explained Kent. “Early doors, they get to see what's demanded and what's needed from us when you go to places like Dens Park. You see how Dundee celebrated at the end, there is a big expectation on us now to get wins because we did that last season. That's on us, there's no excuse. We need to put it right.”

Having drawn 0-0 with Rangers in their first league game, some were surprised at the visitors changing from 4-2-3-1 to 3-5-2 for the visit to Tayside. Kent gave his thoughts. “We thought we played here last year in similar games and played in a way we thought could hurt Dundee. That was the reasoning for it. It looked like it didn't work obviously because of the scoreline.

“We did it a lot last season. We would play really well one week in a [back] four, then change to a three and play well again and get another good result. We would win games doing it. I think we changed a lot last season and that was probably a big strength of ours. There's no explanation for it for me at the minute. I can't put my finger on it as to what it was and why it was. It just wasn't good enough.”

Either way, the weekend’s experience must be treated as a lesson to learn. “I learned quickly last season, with the slow start we had, what was expected and needed from us. These boys, no excuse, but they are young. They are fresh to it and new to it. Maybe it's a bit of a blessing in disguise, really, that it's come [early in the season]. We don't want to lose games and we definitely weren't good enough on Saturday.”