THE beauty of football is that there is usually a quick chance to get morale-sapping defeats out of the system, and for Hearts, there is no better opportunity to lift spirits following the late defeat to Motherwell on Sunday than Friday night’s Edinburgh derby.
That’s the view of the Tynecastle club’s experienced defender Aaron Hughes, who says that the trip to face their bitter rivals at Easter Road is the perfect tonic to the crushing disappointment of their Scottish Cup exit at Fir Park.
And the 38-year-old says that Craig Levein’s men can’t afford to be feeling sorry for themselves as they gear up to face Neil Lennon's side.
“We have a big game coming up on Friday against Hibs and we have to pick ourselves up quickly,” Hughes said.
“We need to get up and running again and I think it’s a good game to get back into.
“If we get any kind of positive result, it can really pick ourselves up and allow us to push on for the last nine games and get back up the table.
“The derby is a good game for us to go back into after losing to Motherwell. It is full of intensity, there is the pace of the game and the atmosphere. There is that feeling for 90 minutes - with the noise and the crowd.
“I have played in two of them now and it’s fast and furious. But when you look back, you really enjoy the intensity.
“That’s what derbies are all about and I am actually looking forward to it even more after Sunday.
“It will be nice to get up and running and a good result would really give us a boost.”
Hughes was perplexed by the slack opening to the match from Hearts at Fir Park, particularly on the defensive side which has been their main strength of late. That was summed up by the bizarre nature of Motherwell’s opening goal, as Ross Callachan allowed a low corner to go past him at the near post, and the ricochet off of goalkeeper Jon McLaughlin eventually allowing Curtis Main to tap home.
“It was a strange goal to concede and it was unfortunate that it happened in a game where it will be highlighted a lot,” said Hughes.
“I think Ross thought the ball was going out and he misjudged it a little bit. It’s one of those things. On another day, he puts his foot through it and clears it, or it does go out.
“He’s a young boy and he will learn from that and I’m sure it won’t happen again. It’s unfortunate but what can you do? It is what it is.
“It happened so early that we just had to say, ‘It’s done, let’s get on and get back in the game’. We did that well. We didn’t dwell on that goal and we did get ourselves back into it.”
Frustratingly for Hearts, Kyle Lafferty’s penalty equaliser was their only tangible reward from their extended period of dominance after the break at Fir Park, before they were hit by the spectacular late sucker punch from Motherwell captain Carl McHugh.
“In the first half, we all knew that we could be a lot better and we spoke about that at half-time,” Hughes said.
“In the second, we kept the ball a lot more and were maybe unlucky not to get a second goal. Laff hit the post at 1-1 and we felt we were right in the game - but then Motherwell scored.
“It’s a great finish from him. Jon managed to get a hand on it but just not enough. It was a fantastic strike and sometimes you just need to hold your hands up and admit that.
“I’m not sure about everything in the lead up to the goal but in terms of the finish, it was fantastic.
“It was worthy of winning a game of that importance.”
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