'It's part of the game' - Hearts' Joel Pereira speaks on mistakes and club's upturn in fortunes

It was only a fortnight ago that Hearts languished five points adrift at the foot of the table. At that point, even 11th place seemed some distance away as the very real threat of relegation gripped everyone at Tynecastle.

Remarkably, Daniel Stendel’s side – just three further Premiership fixtures into their schedule – have already made it to the relative sanctuary of second-bottom place. While they still have plenty work ahead to achieve safety, there is now a significantly sunnier outlook in Gorgie than was the case over the course of a worrying winter break. Hearts now sit just three points behind third-bottom St Mirren and only eight points behind seventh-place Kilmarnock, whom they host this evening.

The visit of Alex Dyer’s side, who had been struggling badly themselves until defeating Ross County at the weekend, gives the resurgent Jambos a chance to make it six games in a row unbeaten in all competitions.

“We have obviously taken some steps forward recently,” goalkeeper Joel Pereira told the Evening News. “We haven’t lost in the last five games and there is a better spirit in the team. Compared to where we were one or two months ago, it is looking a lot better. We just need to keep going.

“I wouldn’t say I’m surprised by how we’ve turned it round because I always believed in the quality of this team. The manager arrived with good ideas and has had a good impact on us. I think everyone here was confident we would turn it round quickly but we are still not where we want to be so we need to keep working hard to get out of the bottom two.”

In that regard, games like this evening’s – against other bottom-six sides – are deemed vital for Hearts. “You always look at the league table so we know we are not too far away from a lot of teams above us, but we just need to look after ourselves and take it game by game,” said Pereira. “We just want to get out of the bottom two so hopefully we can make it happen.

“The Kilmarnock game is a massive game because the games against the teams round about us are all really big now. We just need to keep doing a lot of what we’ve been doing in the last few games and work on improving the things that were not so good. The St Johnstone game on Saturday was very up and down. We were lucky in the end to get a point but hopefully against Kilmarnock we can improve upon the things we didn’t so well on Saturday.”

Pereira himself had plenty to reflect upon after Saturday’s 3-3 draw in Perth after he allowed Ali McCann’s effort to squirm beyond him far too easily and level the match up at 2-2. “I always look at my own performance,” he said, when asked about this costly error. “I always watch the game again and, knowing my qualities, I know I could have done better for their goal. I just have to keep a positive mentality and keep moving forward.

“Dealing with mistakes is part of the game, not just for goalkeepers, but for all football players. If you don’t do something as well as you would like, you just need to leave it behind and focus on the rest of the game and try to turn things around. There are always things I can improve on. I know what they are and I’m working on them on a daily basis.”

Pereira arrived at Hearts on loan from Manchester United amid no shortage of hype back in August. As the man between the sticks in a team which has been sucked into serious danger at the foot of the Premiership, it has been a testing campaign for the 23-year-old.

However, he is adamant that the move to Edinburgh has been good for his development. “The team is not where it belongs,” said Pereira. “We’ve been through difficult times as a club but for myself I think it’s been a good experience. It’s a massive club and I’m very happy to be here.

“I was looking for game time and I’ve had the chance to play regularly so personally it’s been good for me. I just want to help the team get out of the bottom two now.”