Hearts: Your Views

Joe Rankin, Dalkeith: "It really was a game of two halves from a Hearts point of view. In the first half, I thought that we saw some really positive signs.

"We got the ball down, played some neat stuff and managed to contain Celtic pretty well. However, we started off the second half really badly and gave Celtic the initiative and, realistically, there was no way back from that. After that, I thought that we composed ourselves a bit but you could see that Celtic could have stepped up a gear or two if they had needed to. I think most Hearts fans would accept that we were up against it last night but we are under pressure to beat Falkirk on Saturday. We simply must win if we have any top-six aspirations left."

Scott Bouglas, Fairmilehead: "A poor second-half performance from Hearts was the only real difference between the sides. In the first half, I thought we matched Celtic, had a couple of decent openings and I felt that if we showed a wee bit more invention in the final third of the pitch, then Celtic would have been there for the taking.

"However, after the break, we got off to a nightmare start. The defending for the first goal was bad and it was even worse for the second. When you defend like we did for the goals, you give yourself a mountain to climb and we don't look capable of fighting our way back into games when we're behind – we simply do not have the firepower to do that.

"The wee run that we had over Christmas and New Year papered over a lot of cracks and, fortunately, the points we picked up at that time should keep us clear of relegation trouble but it is important that JJ gets his first win under his belt against Falkirk on Saturday to make sure that there is no danger of us being sucked into a relegation dogfight."

Adam Winning, Edinburgh: "I thought it was a decent effort from Hearts but we slept for a couple of minutes at the start of the second half and, when you do that against the Old Firm, you tend to get punished.

"I am very worried at our tendency in recent games to start the second half slowly. It has now been a big factor in us losing the last four matches and maybe Jefferies needs to think about the half-time routine because we cannot afford to continue losing sloppy goals at the start of the second half.

"On the positive side, I thought that we looked a bit more adventurous last night if still short of the cutting edge required.

"The biggest plus was David Obua. I thought he had his best game in a long time and hopefully JJ coming in has sharpened his focus and he will start to produce the goods on a more regular basis.

"It is a must that we take six points out of six from the matches against Falkirk and Hamilton. We have been poor recently and I think, to an extent, that has been overshadowed with the buzz surrounding JJ's return to Hearts. Last night was good in spells but a game lasts for 90 minutes, not 45."