Ian Cathro: Hearts must stick together through rough patch

Hearts head coach Ian Cathro watched his side lose 1-0 at home to Ross County. Picture: SNS

A mistake by Greek midfielder Alex Tziolis in the 51st minute gave Alex Schalk the opportunity to pounce on a slack clearance and drill the winner beyond Jack Hamilton, leaving the capital side mired in misery as they slumped to their third successive defeat.

But the Hearts head coach believes the performance against County represented an improvement on recent performances.

“It’s clear we have a bad week,” Cathro, pictured, said. “We’ve had disappointing results, we’ve taken few hits, particularly the completely unacceptable performance against Hibs. It was maybe not as negative but there were some poor issues on Saturday [in the defeat by Partick] but I don’t see this game in that category. It was  certainly improved in that sense. We are trying to help the players feel more positive and bring the confidence back into  their play.”

Cathro added that every club experiences tricky periods and urged fans to stick with the team.

“It’s difficult but the solutions are simple – sticking together and pushing through together. I am very appreciative of the supporters for staying with the team and fighting beside them. Sticking together is key.

“We need to move forward and moving forward is winning games. It is fine margins and often it’s the case when you are in a tough spot. Alex made a mistake for the goal. What you see in his reaction and the team’s reaction was determination to the point of desperation.”

For County, the win bolstered their hopes of clinching a top six spot, to the delight of their manager Jim McIntyre.

“We knew we were going to have to handle pressure and I felt they did that really well,” said McIntyre.