Gary Mackay: How many Hearts players will leave for a bigger club? They need to realise what an opportunity they have

Because of the mixed results recently, I think the Hearts players are feeling slightly under pressure going into games.

Hearts players could have a prosperous few months ahead.

There just wasn’t that cutting edge again on Saturday in the 1-1 draw with Morton. When you lose the first goal, that feeling intensifies. It’s happened to Hearts in the last two games against Queen of the South and Morton.

We should be able to score first against these teams and then go and steamroller them. If you don’t get that goal, teams won’t lie down and let you walk all over them in the Championship or any other league.

Because there was a negativity for such a long time from a lot of supporters, even before Daniel Stendel came in, it doesn’t take long for it to come back to the surface unfortunately.

That goes back to the top of the football club. We can’t question the backing and finances given to every manager during Ann Budge’s time in charge, but we can question why we are getting these results given the quality of players we have.

I talk to other supporters and we can look back to the early 1980s when Hearts got promoted. We had a bit of youth in that squad but this a really experienced group now.

Sometimes you need to look in the mirror and say: ‘Individually and collectively, can we get more from each other?’ Football players are the best at blaming everybody else but themselves.

Right now, Hearts players have to look at the nucleus of the group who have been around this club for a long time. They need to ask what more they can be doing to get better results.

Yes, we have a nice lead at the top of the league, but we aren’t putting teams away in the way we should be. That brings undue pressure in the next game.

It was always going to be a difficult game at Inverness this Friday, even aside from the fact they now have a different manager in charge. When you’ve drawn against Queen of the South and Morton in the last two matches, it becomes an even more difficult task.

The players at Hearts right now need to realise what they have. No disrespect, but how many of them are going to move on to bigger clubs when they leave Tynecastle?

They need to look ahead and say to themselves: ‘Hearts could be in the Premiership next season, fans could be back inside stadiums, I want to be part of that.’ Especially the ones out of contract in the summer.

Meantime, Hearts have to be very careful regarding the lead we have. They simply need to get out of this division. Every team is beating each other just now but what if a Raith Rovers or a Dunfermline went on a run of victories?

That would bring added pressure again on Hearts so it’s very much about the here and now. Contracts are up and there will be more reorganising of the squad over the summer, I have no doubt about that.

If you aren’t performing just now, nobody else is going to come in for you. They should all realise what it is to play for Hearts now.

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