Robbie Neilson pinpoints the area Hearts must improve as the manager delivers an honest assessment

Robbie Neilson wants Hearts to rediscover their trademark aggressive start to matches after admitting they were too passive against Dundee United.

The Tynecastle manager will demand a more positive opening from his players, who found themselves behind early on against Rangers and United in their last two matches. They visit Hamilton in the Scottish Cup on Friday night having converted a 1-0 half-time deficit into a 3-1 victory against United following Ryan Edwards’ red card.

“We didn’t start the game well, lost an early goal and were always fighting back from that,” Neilson conceded to the Evening News. “We had opportunities to play forward and play aggressively and didn’t use them, so that’s something we need to get better at. When we play forward we can hurt teams but when we play back then the opposition can press us and it makes it difficult.

“We really need to get back to starting games on the front foot and being positive. Yes, the resilience is great. I think the patience has got to be there as well. We changed our shape into a four-man midfield to stretch Dundee United. When you play against ten men, it’s difficult because they camp in and make it difficult. You just need to wait, keep moving the ball, wait for spaces to open up and then take your chance. We managed to do that.”

Neilson’s substitutes Jorge Grant, Alex Cochrane and Garang Kuol all played a part in the second-half comeback. “They all came on and gave us something in terms of an attacking threat,” he said. “We changed things a bit and moved Josh Ginnelly to right-back because we were getting opportunities for overlaps. Cochrane came on and got a goal. Jorge came on and gave us forward passes. I was pleased with the guys who came on.”