Hearts boss ready to show players the door if they don't perform

JIM JEFFERIES today praised Hearts for their endeavour in the Co-operative Cup semi-final defeat by St Mirren, but then warned his team that failure to maintain standards will result in players being shown the door at Tynecastle.

The new manager was pleased with an enlivened performance following last weekend's league reverse at St Johnstone. Despite being eliminated by Billy Mehmet's 51st-minute goal, Hearts played with an industry and spirit not always in evidence this season.

Jefferies stressed that level of desire must continue for the rest of the season.

"Last night I patted them on the head," he said. "I knew they were down but I told them if they give that same desire then the supporters will stay with them. That's what I've always said. If the fans see people playing for the jersey they are happy. Some of the players have been accused of not doing so but it's my job to work on that. If they don't play for the jersey they won't be here.

"What a difference we've seen in them in two days. We got them in, got some smiles back on their faces and told them what the demands were. I've said there's certain things we won't be doing any more, and that's not a criticism of Csaba Laszlo because I think he did an excellent job here. Sometimes changing people who are used to that can't happen overnight. But there was a big improvement last night.

"I thought there were positives in that we asked them to pull together and go forward. Compared to Saturday it was night and day. It was a tight game and the longer it went on we knew one goal was going to win it. We had a lot of build-up play and on the couple of occasions we did get in behind we didn't have the final pass to create a decent opportunity.

"When you get into that final area, decision-making is important. We should be hammering balls across the face of goal rather than trying to pick out passes, for example.

"Hearts' problem all year has been scoring goals. There's not a lot you can do about that till you sort it out in other areas. We'll work with the players and try and encourage them with that."

Meanwhile, Hearts captain Michael Stewart has incurred a two-match suspension following his caution against St Johnstone. He will now miss consecutive home league games against Falkirk on Saturday 13 February and Hamilton on Sunday 21 February.