Hearts star senses change is afoot at Tynecastle as he plots next Gorgie steps after major milestone hit

James Penrice believes changes will occur at Hearts going into pre-season as he looks for more than just personal success.

The left-back has been left proud after being named in the PFA Scotland Team of the Year. He is one of only two non-Old Firm players in the XI, the other being Dundee United striker Sam Dalby, as Penrice is recognised for an excellent first season in maroon after joining from Livingston.

On the team front, it’s been a tough season, with bottom six fixtures awaiting post split and losing Saturday’s Scottish Cup semi final with Aberdeen. Amid the role of Jamestown Analytics in recruitment, Penrice believes it’s an exciting time to be part of the club as he hopes to build towards three of the key reasons he joined Hearts.

Three Hearts objectives

He said: “It's a massive achievement for me. I was hoping it would get released after the game. It's a massive credit to where I was. Almost a year ago, I wasn't even playing football and I was injured. I think it's a lot of hard work that's went into it, but it's not just me, it's the boys in there as well. They help for that and I'm very thankful to the club for giving me an opportunity to play.

“I've loved every minute of it. It's been a massive jump up for me. I think I took it in my stride and I'm playing with confidence. Ultimately, I'd like to be doing a wee bit better than we are. I joined this club to compete in the finals and finish up the higher end of the league and go and play in Europe. On that end, it's disappointing, but from a personal point of view, I've loved every minute of it. It's a club that I've took to straight away. The support that everyone around me and the fans have given me and my family in joining the club, it's been excellent.

“It's a very exciting project that the club have got with the way they're going about their business with the analytics. I'm sure there will be a lot of changes, but as players you just need to get on with it and see what comes. We'll be going into next season with positivity and hopefully we can start better than we did this season."

Clamping critics

There were questions lingering over Hearts heading into the game at Hampden over their ability to mix it in big games, having missed two chances to enter the top six, failing to beat Hibs this season in derby action but league phase elimination in the Conference League. Neil Critchley’s side more than matched the Dons over 120 minutes into extra time, with Michael Steinwender sent off in the first half and Cammy Devlin dismissed controversially for a second yellow in the additional half hour. Penrice insists a standard has been set.

He said: “There were weird shouts in the press earlier on in the week. We couldn't handle big games, but I don't think anyone walked off that park that was in a Hearts jersey that was disappointed in their performance. I thought every single one of the boys were brilliant. That's what you need. That's what you need every week when you play with this club. You need to put 100% and that needs to be the first thing. That's what we've got to do going forward now.

“Don't get me wrong, it's very disappointing, but I think that's your job. You can't always have it easy in football. This is what you're judged on when it is tough. Can you bounce back? That's what us as a group of players have got to do. We've got to bounce back now and go and finish these five games strongly. Because we owe it to the fans as well.

“I thought we were brilliant. Our shape was brilliant. We caught them a couple of times on the counter as well. For the most part of the game I think they ran out of ideas. They didn't really know what to do. We felt really comfortable actually. We were kind of looking to go into extra time and go and try and get another couple of chances. It wasn't to be and it's frustrating because of the amount of work that the boys have put in. The disappointment of last week and this week. It was a massive week for the club. It is frustrating, but we've just got to get on with it."