Destiny still in Hearts' hands but rapid improvement is vital to European aim

However, concern is growing over recent form after successive league losses to clubs bottom of the table. Saturday’s 2-1 defeat at St Johnstone followed Dundee’s victory by the same scoreline at Tynecastle Park.

A measure of this Hearts team’s character will be how quickly they recover from these setbacks. Third place and guaranteed European football is theirs only to throw away at this stage of the campaign.

Performances like that in Perth must improve significantly. Hearts travel to St Mirren this weekend, followed by a home match against Aberdeen and then a trip to Dundee United. It is imperative that they rediscover form in those games to avoid a needlessly-nervy spring period.

The tone for Saturday's loss was set inside the opening minute when Ali Crawford scored St Johnstone’s first goal. With captain Craig Gordon and top scorer Liam Boyce isolating due to Covid, and defender Michael Smith injured, it was reserve keeper Ross Stewart picking the ball out of the visitors’ net.

A quick reply brought Nathaniel Atkinson his first goal in maroon but a free header from a textbook free-kick allowed Jamie McCart to win the game for Saints after half-time. A scathing reaction from the travelling support at full-time underlined the aforementioned concern.

Hearts have taken only one point from the last 12 and haven’t won any of their last five games inside 90 minutes. “You can’t just sit there thinking we are going to get out of it. The only people who can get out of it is us with hard work,” said Stewart after his first senior appearance in 11 months.

“We had a good first half of the season and we are going through a blip now, but only we can get us out of it. We need to react next week. We want to be cementing that third