Steven Naismith names Hearts' 2 key problem areas in Dundee collapse as Tynecastle boss left bitterly disappointed

Steven Naismith bemoaned absent application and game-management as Hearts collapsed at Dens.

The Tynecastle manager was bitterly disappointed with his side’s first-half display. Naismith’s team improved after the restart, but failed to take chances to get right back into it on a day to forget. He said: “Our biggest problem was our application and our energy. The three goals were poor, it was our downfall. We didn’t defend well enough and gave up the chances.

"I’m disappointed, you get the credit for last week’s performance, but we were really poor in the first half here. The first 20 mins was a fight and we were second to everything, we didn’t win enough second balls. It was like deja-vu from the first game here last season where we were sluggish and slow, they got the better of 50-50s Ultimately we didn’t have enough energy and that’s what cost us the three points. That energy from last week wasn’t there."

Hearts looked to be going into half-time at just 1-0 down only for lapses and mistakes in stoppage-time to leave them staring at two more lost goals before the interval.

Naismith added: “It was two minutes where we didn’t make the right decisions which took it from 1-0 to 3-0. That’s game management and I don’t think we deal with it well enough.”

Hearts improved in the second period with Frankie Kent netting a header to hand them a lifeline. However, a couple of missed headed chances from Japanese sub Yutaro Oda saw their final chances of a miraculous fightback evaporate.

Naismith said: “We improved in the second half, Oda had a great chance and if that goes in with 15 minutes to go we can go again like we did last season when we won. But Dundee slowed it down, they managed the game well and killed it.”