‘This is a big club’ - Frankie Kent issues Hearts rallying call after win v Aberdeen

Frankie Kent formed part of a superb defensive line as the Dons lost their fifth league match of 2023/24 season

Yutaro Oda and Liam Boyce helped Hearts to secure the much needed three points as the Tynecastle side beat Aberdeen 2-0. Speaking after the match, the Jambos boss said it was a “really good afternoon” with the latter stages of the win “probably the most comfortable” he has felt with a game in the balance during his time in charge.

Hearts had been struggling with form up to this point, losing their last Scottish Premiership match 1-0 to Motherwell, but after the international break, Naismith assured fans Hearts had learned from their previous mistakes and were ready for the next block of action - a promise which certainly came to fruition.

However, it wasn’t just Oda and Boyce who shined for their club today as Hearts’ back four ensured the side kept a clean sheet. Speaking after the match, Hearts’ centre-back Frankie Kent said: “It was nice to get a win and a clean sheet, we needed it because we had to show a reaction to what happened before the break.

“It was a good performance all round. It was good from start to finish, we played with a high intensity and had our game plan. We showed that we are fighting for everything, we closed down the ball well, won our duels and our tackles.

“But we also had the calmness to implement what we wanted to do to hurt them. I think that was a big factor. Can this be a statement performance? I think so.

“It’s still the start of the season and we need to improve on a lot of things but there were a lot of positives to take. We still have to get better at things and are learning what we need to improve on but it’s good and everyone is happy with how we played.

“We need to get consistency and a run of games, nobody is getting carried away because we need to build on it now. We have to do it again next week so this week we’ll rest up and hopefully do the same next week.

“This is a big club, I saw that the first month I was here and you have that intensity. That’s something to look forward to and take on because you want to be playing for a big club and having that responsibility.”

“We worked on stuff during the break and reevaluated what we need to do and get back to. We’d shown it in glimpses at the start of the season but not enough. The Aberdeen game was back to what we needed to produce."