Gary Locke forced his young Hearts squad to sit through an unpleasant re-run of Sunday's 7-0 thrashing from Celtic in a bid to ensure they never suffer such an embarrassment again.

The Tynecastle manager used Manchester City's 6-0 hammering of Tottenham Hotspur 10 days ago as an example that shock results can happen, and he is confident his squad can put the experience behind them at Tannadice this weekend against a Dundee United side that have scored 13 goals in their last three matches. He said: "The mood's been a bit flat the last couple of days. It was a terrible result. But it's gone now. The good thing about football is you have the next game to eradicate what you did the week before."

Meanwhile, goalkeeper Mark Ridgers will be sidelined for a few weeks after being told he needs an operation on his injured knee.