Hearts boss Daniel Stendel reacts to the 2-2 draw with Hamilton which leaves the team bottom of the Ladbrokes Premiership

The German witnessed his side go 2-0 early on before battling back to rescue a point against ten men

Hearts boss Daniel Stendel was left frustrated with his side's start against Hamilton. Picture: SNS

Hearts boss Daniel Stendel has bemoaned the small mistakes which are letting his side down.

The German watched on as Hamilton took a two-goal lead in the first 16 minutes in the relegation battle at Tynecastle.

Hearts recovered in the second half to rescue a point after playing around 80 minutes against ten men following Jamie Hamilton’s sending off.

Stendel believes “the problem right now is that every small mistake is a goal” with the side still one point adrift at the bottom of the Ladbrokes Premiership.

He said: “We showed a good mentality to try to come back, and score two goals, that was really good, but that is all that was good today. We didn’t play well, or show a good mentality in the first half. We expected so much more when we arrived today.

“After Wednesday, I felt the atmosphere was positive and we had a good feeling, and they want to do what is right on the pitch but when the referee starts the game, there’s a click in their heads and they can’t do what they want to do.

“I said to the players that they have to handle pressure. This is part of professional sport. Two things can help. When players have the ball, they need the feeling from their teammates that they want the ball. It doesn’t matter if it’s difficult or there’s pressure. And when we lose the ball, we need to help each other to stop the attacks from the other team.

He added: “I think, 100%, that they want to do it, but the impression I got from the first 30 minutes was nothing like this. We need it to click in the players’ heads that it will click in the positive side. This is the biggest thing right now, I can talk and we can try to help everybody but at the moment it’s really important that they recover.”