John McGlynn says Hearts must pick up points

By BARRY ANDERSON
Published on 26/02/2013 12:00

HEARTS manager John 
McGlynn has admitted his players must start picking up SPL points to avoid entering the Scottish Communities League Cup final demoralised and shorn of confidence.

Having watched his team fall to tenth in the league, losing their last three matches and conceding nine goals in the process, McGlynn is concerned by the recent sequence of results ahead of a game on which Hearts’ entire season could rest.

The Edinburgh club travel to St Mirren tomorrow night on league business before facing the Paisley side again in the League Cup final at Hampden on March 17. In between, they face Motherwell, St Johnstone and Hibs. Speaking to the Evening News, McGlynn acknowledged the need to begin building momentum.

“Of course we’d prefer that, we all want to be winning football matches and we’re trying out utmost,” he said. “You can’t fault our football or our effort against Inverness on Saturday, even though we lost 3-2. If we sort out our defending from set-plays then we’ll be okay.

“We certainly want to go into the cup final on a better note than we are right now. There are still games before the final for us to do that.”

McGlynn conceded there is no magic formula for improving morale in the wake of the weekend defeat. “There’s no easy way round it, you’ve just got to get up, dust yourself down and get on with it,” he said. “It’s probably a good thing that we’ve got a game coming so quickly tomorrow because we can get back playing and hopefully put things right.

“Against Kilmarnock we could maybe have been criticised but on Saturday we played well and scored two goals. Of course, we’re disappointed with the goals we lost but the performance, overall, was very good.”

Meanwhile, Hearts fans can get their hands on tickets for the League Cup final tomorrow morning.

The Jam Tarts take on

St Mirren in the final at Hampden on Sunday, March 17 and more than 25,000 Hearts supporters are expected to make the trip to Glasgow.

The first phase of tickets go on sale at 9am to supporters with more than 20 loyalty points.

Those who meet the minimum threshold then have

until 8.55am on Friday, March 1 to snap up their allocation but only one brief is allowed per

account.

North Stand tickets will be sold first.

The second phase of ticket sales will start at 9am on Friday, March 1 for supporters with more than four loyalty points.

If any tickets remain, there will be a general sale from 9am on Monday, March 4.

Tickets are priced from £10 for concessions through to £20 and £25 for adults.

• FORMER Hearts striker

Calum Elliot is set to join Paul Hartley’s Alloa Athletic. The Wasps are currently second in the Second Division.