Upbeat Ian Cathro denies pressure got to Hearts

There was a 'nothing-to-see-here' attitude from Ian Cathro after his first game in charge of a senior football side. The meek capitulation from his Hearts' team in the defeat was not a rude awakening to a new world of frontline management, insisted the 30-year-old.

Hearts manager Ian Cathro applauds the fans at full-time

“For me, it was a normal day at work. We need to take as much value as we can out of this game and make improvements. There’s a better team in the dressing-room than there was on the pitch,” he said.

Cathro kept his emotions firmly in check on the sidelines but strode over to the Hearts’ supporters at full-time, shouting in their direction as he did so. He explained those actions as being vocal assurances. “It’s important that they know that we will be better. The team in the dressing room is better than what was on the pitch today.

“I want them to know that. I don’t want to be passing out the card that we need time, that it’s a new thing. I don’t want that because I believe there is a good team in there. It needs to be better and we all feel that. It’s a game which could have gone better and we could have been better. But there is no drama. No disaster. Just a game we need to learn from. We will be a different team to what you saw today.”

The former Valencia and Newcastle United coach offered up a “no, no, no” when asked if his team’s preparations had been hampered by there being too much focus on him since his appointment was announced on Monday evening.

“Everyone will go through a process of getting to know me,” he said. “I think you’ll realise that very little bothers me. Noise is noise. The reasons why I’ve been able to make progress in my career is because I focus on the work.”