Steven Naismith reveals what's next for Hearts in pre-season after Wigan Athletic defeat

Steven Naismith insists Hearts will play one more pre-season game before hosting Leeds United at the end of this month.

The Jambos were beaten in a closed-door encounter against Wigan Athletic on Sunday afternoon, going down 3-0 with former striker Stephen Humphrys amongst the goals for the home side. It was the fourth encounter so far this summer following a win, draw and defeat against Fleetwood Town, Dunfermline Athletic and Plymouth Argyle, respectively.

Hearts don’t currently have a game lined up for this coming weekend, with fans instead welcomed to watch an open training session at Tynecastle Park on Saturday morning, but the club’s technical director believes they’ll sort something out in order to get the players more game time ahead of the new campaign.

"The boys will take a couple of days off now because it has been intense. Then they’ll come back in and we’ll have a shorter period of double sessions and more tactical work,” the club’s technical director told Hearts TV.

Hearts technical director Steven Naismith understands the pre-season frustration of the players. Picture: SNS

“We’ve picked the friendlies against good opposition. Even in Sunday’s game we’ve seen some things where we’re thinking, ‘OK, if this comes up in a game, how do we rectify it and get control of the game?’

“We’ll definitely have another game this weekend, whether it’s in-house or against an opponent, but definitely another full game so everyone can get 90 minutes in their legs.”

Naismith hinted at a frustration among the players following the Wigan Athletic match. The game was split into two 60-minute encounters, with breaks halfway, in order to ensure as many players as possible from both sides got a lengthy run out. Hearts were dominated in the opening 60 and though they managed to perform better after the interval, they still couldn’t get on the scoresheet.

The former Scotland international explained it’s all part of the process at this time of year.

“I remember as a player you go through a really frustrating period in pre-season,” he said. “We’ve been good, we’ve scored lots of goals and created lots of chances but you get that frustration where your brain works quicker than your feet. That’s the last part you need, but from my experience as a player I know it comes.

"Hopefully we continue to develop as we have done over the last three weeks.”