Jonsson goal lifts on-field spirits at Tynecastle

The win was the Tynecastle side’s first since it was revealed that for a second month in succession the club were unable to pay the wages of the first-team players on time. November’s salaries – which were due on the 16th – remained unpaid yesterday.

Defeats to Rangers, Kilmarnock and Dundee United, and a draw with St Mirren, in recent weeks came and went without a goal being scored as Hearts manager Paulo Sergio’s fears that the wages situation would affect on-field displays looked justified.

However, the players have put on hold plans to take their grievances to the players’ union, despite the fact a number of the first-team squad look likely to be offloaded in the near future as the club looks to cut its outgoings to more manageable levels. And Jonsson, whose header 15 minutes from time sealed a hard-fought 2-1 win, said that edging out Terry Butcher’s side had brought some much-needed cheer to him and his team-mates.

He said: “On Saturday the conditions were quite bad and we didn’t really get a good rhythm in the game, and didn’t play that well, but it was nice to get the three points.

“It’s a massive three points for us. It was really important, after all the things that have been going on, to get the three points. It was in the back of our minds obviously (that we hadn’t won in four) but, although we weren’t getting the results, we thought we were playing well.

“We were just thinking to ourselves that if we kept playing the way we were playing then hopefully we would get a bit of luck and start scoring goals.

“On Saturday we didn’t play well but we got the three points and that was the most important thing.”

The Iceland internationalist also felt that the long-awaited win has set Hearts up nicely for Saturday’s home meeting with fourth-placed St Johnstone and the following week’s trip to face Celtic.

With the win lifting Sergio’s side back up into fifth in the SPL, the 23-year-old told Hearts TV: “Saturday is a big game at home again and we really need to make sure that we push on from here and keep progressing.

“We need to get back up the table where we think we belong and show the fans what we’re capable of doing.

“We’ve got (the St Johnstone) game coming up and then a tough game away against Celtic, and then you’ve got Christmas coming up, so there’s the potential of getting ourselves back up there. We really need to start focusing on getting good results again.”