Hearts' Josh Ginnelly speaks on trying to retain starting place against Aberdeen

Hearts winger Josh Ginnelly hopes to retain his starting place against Aberdeen following a stellar midweek display at McDiarmid Park.

Josh Ginnelly is congratulated by Cammy Devlin after scoring for Hearts.

The Englishman was outstanding and scored his team’s equaliser in the 1-1 draw which stretched their unbeaten league run to 11 matches.

A persistent ankle problem has limited Ginnelly’s game time so far this season but his performance in Perth suggested he is back approaching his best.

“We have to mix it up. Everyone can't have a great game all the time,” he said. “I've been struggling with something so obviously I've been in and out of the team – coming on 20 minutes here and 20 minutes there.“I've trained for the last ten days and I got my opportunity on Wednesday night and I think I took it.

“In the second half we played some really good football and on another day we hit the back of the net. There are a lot of positives to take out of it.

“We switched the team around and obviously we wanted to win, but everyone has done themselves justice. I'm pleased but we would have wanted the three points.”

Hearts are the Premiership’s only unbeaten team ahead of Saturday’s trip to Pittodrie. They completed the first quarter of league fixtures without a defeat, although their last three games have ended in 1-1 draws.

Ginnelly admitted there is slight frustration within the camp as a result but a dominant second-half performance at St Johnstone showcased the Tynecastle side’s potential.

“You know how well we've started but it's not because of luck. We work hard, we have patterns of play throughout the week and we work on things,” said Ginnelly. “We set up right and we played some really good football on Wednesday. The sooner we can turn that into a win, the better.“Obviously that [unbeaten run] is a massive positive, credit to all the boys and everyone involved. We are taking it game by game and not getting carried away. We are trying to enjoy our game.

“We played some good football at St Johnstone and on another night we win. It will come.”

A message from the Editor: Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by Coronavirus impacts our advertisers. If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital sports subscription.