'I don't think it was seismic for Hearts' - former Jambo plays down St Mirren defeat due to one key Old Firm factor
The ex Hearts gaffer believes Rangers and Celtic could suffer a similar fate in the coming weeks.
Former Hearts manager Robbie Neilson believes the St Mirren defeat wasn’t a ‘seismic’ loss as the Old Firm sides are also susceptible to dropping points.
An early Craig Halkett sending off gave The Jambos a mountain to climb in Paisley and despite defending valiantly for over an hour, they were eventually undone from a set piece, when Miguel Freckleton nodded home in the 88th minute. With Rangers winning their game in hand last night against Kilmarnock, the result now means they are back within touching distance of their title rivals, however Celtic stay six points behind with a game in hand, as their clash with Aberdeen was called off.
In what was only their third league defeat of the season, it was a tough one to take for Derek McInnes’ men, who now have to dust themselves off fairly quickly ahead of next week’s Edinburgh Derby. While Neilson believes the defeat would’ve been a sore one for his old side, he also believes that due to the current form of Rangers and Celtic, both Hearts’ Old Firm title rivals will also drop points between now and when the league splits.
‘I think they’ll regroup again’ - Neilson positive despite Hearts setback
Speaking on BBC Sportsound’s Scottish Football Podcast alongside Scott Allan, Neilson said: “St Mirren getting the victory against Hearts clogged it all up [the title race] and now there’s a couple of big games for Hearts coming up as well with the Edinburgh Derby and then Rangers, so it's starting to get to that stage of the season where the excitement builds.
“I think it's just week to week now. Can they get back to putting a consistent run in? Can they recover from a difficult result? St Mirren is always a difficult place to go for anyone and I just don't see any of the three top teams going on a six, seven, eight game winning run. So I don’t think it was seismic for Hearts.
“I think they'll regroup again. The red card obviously made a big difference to the game. It was difficult for them, but you've seen in previous weeks that they've managed to recover from that and pick up points, maximum points at times. It'll be a hard one to take, but they're still in a great position. The next two games for them will probably dictate what way the season is going to go now.”
‘Law of averages’ goes against the Jambos
Former Hibs and Celtic midfielder, Allan said that unfortunately for Hearts with the amount of red cards they’ve picked up in recent weeks, it was only a matter of time until they dropped points. He added: “we're getting to that stage now, where I think we're going week to week when results are going to have a huge impact in the league.
“I think you see that the other night with Hearts. I just think of the law of averages when you go down to 10 men three times in the space of a month, in one of the games you aren't going to get the line and it proved to be that way for them.
“It can be very difficult at St Mirren, especially with 10 men. They're just trying to make you defend all the time and ultimately they’ve scored a goal from a set-piece, which has actually been Hearts’ main source of goals at times this season. I think it's just a case of dusting yourself down and getting players back fit.”