Why Hearts stars won't 'moan' about hectic match schedule as confident squad claim made

Alan Forrest says the Hearts dressing room are not shying away from a hectic schedule of matches - instead they are buoyed by it.

The Jambos face a third game in the Premiership over six days on Saturday away at St Johnstone. Then under a week later, its Heidenheim at home in the Conference League which will then be followed up by a trip to Rangers less than 72 hours on.

It’s been a busy period for new head coach Neil Critchley, who has already had four games in charge. The latter of which was a 2-1 defeat to Kilmarnock and as they head into the Saints game, Forrest insists that plenty of games is just what players want.

He said: “That experience is good and for us as players, that is why you want to finish higher up in the league so that you are in these positions. To play in the highs of the European stuff, then coming back and playing (in the Premiership. That is what we want to do, we can’t moan about the schedule as that is where we want to be as players.

“We’ve got the squad that can compete in any game we play, whether that is a Thursday or a Sunday, we have the squad that players can come in and it won’t make much of a difference as it is a strong team. I don’t think we can argue about the amount of games, we just need to be ready for every single game as we are not going to get an easy game.

“I think if you’ve already done it from a couple of years ago, then players will get experience from that. I think it’s a bit of both (mental and physical). You know you are equipped to do it and we have the squad there that can go and compete to win these games.

“The quick turnaround, I think you enjoy it as a player and I think everybody does. You might be tired in the legs after a game and you have a game in a couple of days. I think all the players will be the same, you want to play these games every couple of days and you have that excitement to go again.”

In that Kilmarnock game, it was Forrest who netted the Hearts goal. It’s a strike that gives him an added piece of confidence but team results will always take priority. He added: “That gives you confidence, it gives any players confidence, scoring goals. So for me, it’s about impacting the game as much as I can.

“If I can keep hopefully scoring and helping the team... it was good scoring but the most important thing is that we lost the game. So, for me, it’s about can I keep impacting games but bigger picture is you want results. We’ve had a setback the other night but if we keep playing like the way we have the last couple of weeks, we will start climbing the table.”