Are Hearts fans right to be disgruntled? This weekend they are a team with something to lose

Hearts player Peter Haring (L) has words with Dundee's Paul McMullan (R) during a cinch Premiership match on Wednesday night.

Was it simply the out-pouring of frustration and embarrassment at the outcome of recent matches or a sign of greater dissatisfaction?

The former would seem understandable. After all, they had travelled to Easter Road confident of a derby victory against a Hibs side struggling to get going after the winter shutdown, but the fans had to settle for another goalless stalemate That was quickly followed up by a 5-0 defeat to Rangers on Sunday. Rather than salve the hurt and humiliation, the 2-1 defeat at home to Dundee, a side sitting bottom of the table and a club with which there is residual beef following the controversial vote change which paved the way for Hearts demotion during the pandemic, only inflamed emotions.

So, while the booing was not a surprise, perhaps the ferocity of it was.

This is a team sitting 10 points clear of the chasing pack in third place in the cinch Premiership, and the fact that the gap has remained in double figures despite recent slip ups, with no-one piecing together a run that saw them gnaw at Hearts’ overall advantage, underlines just how difficult it is for anyone in such a dog-eat-dog league to manage to get on and sustain a run of wins.

Now 26 games into the league season, perceptions are important, though. Judged to have made a good start to the campaign, jostling for position at the top of the table, Hearts sustained just one loss in their first 13 games to mute all but the most vociferous Robbie Neilson critics. In the last 13 they have lost six. That suggests a much poorer run of form but, in actual fact, they have won more of the second 13 (seven compared to five) and the points haul is just two shy of their tally after the opening baker’s dozen.

And, stuck in no man’s land, too far behind the Old Firm to harbour realistic hopes of catching them, yet so far in front of the rest of the league, that, if not complacency, a certain degree of subconscious easing off is difficult to guard against.

Teams they are vying with on a game-by-game basis still have places to fight for. Against Rangers they came up against a side in the midst of a full-on battle for the title and with their own wrongs to right, while Dundee showed a primal, backs-to-the-wall need, not want, for points.

Hearts wanted the points – no professional footballer takes to the pitch seeking less – but they are without key defenders, and that has left them more susceptible.

Against Dundee, though, they had the initiative and could have headed in at half-time with the victory sewn up. But minus that ruthlessness they gave James McPake’s men hope. And, hope can be a dangerous weapon.

Hearts need to give their disgruntled fans a pick-me-up on Saturday by finding a performance, or at the very least, a result that allows them to progress to the quarter-finals of the Scottish Cup.

Because this time they are a team with everything on the line and this is not one they simply want to win, this is one they need to win.