Callum Davidson admits St Johnstone were taught a lesson in clinical finishing at Tynecastle.
The Saints manager felt 3-0 was ‘harsh’ on his disappointed side, but conceded not taking a number of chances proved fatal. Davidson believes his team have played worse in Gorgie and come away with something to show for it.
They put Hearts under considerable strain after Josh Ginnelly’s opener, but the forward completing his double after half-time was a body blow from which they could not recover, and Jorge Grant later added a third.
“I thought 3-0 was harsh because until the third I felt we were in it and creating chances," he said. "We had the courage to keep playing, attacked and tried to get at them - so that opened us up a bit.
READ MORE: Hearts 3 St Johnstone 0 - Instant reaction to the burning issues
“Hearts took their chances and we didn’t take ours. That was a lesson for us and probably shows us where we are.
“We started well, were on the front foot in the second half but got hit with a sucker punch. I have come here and seen us play worse but get results.”
The St Johnstone players were certain Adam Montgomery was fouled by Lawrence Shankland prior to Ginnelly’s opener – but Davidson was more interested in their own failings.
“Whether it was a foul or not, we have to react better,” he insisted. “It will be checked by VAR so you have to play to the whistle. For me we didn’t react quick enough and then the deflected goal goes in.
READ MORE: Robbie Neilson targets Celtic double after Hearts earn 'really important' win
"It was a big moment in the game and it’s something we have talked about, you have to keep going.
“I thought it was an even game until they scored to the third, it sounds daft saying it after a 3-0, but I always felt we were in it. We tried to do the right things, we put them under pressure and were tactically good.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here