De Vries insists Hearts still have fighting streak

HEARTS BY MARK BONTHRONE

STRIKER Mark de Vries has insisted that despite results over the past ten days the fighting spirit of the Hearts team is still very much alive and kicking.

The Jambos had not lost back-to-back games this season before last Thursday’s UEFA Cup second round, second leg defeat to Bordeaux but two further defeats since then saw them going in to this afternoon’s clash with Dunfermline having lost three matches on the trot.

While going down 2-0 to Michel Pavon’s French cracks at Tynecastle hurt the Gorgie men, De Vries insists that they are not suffering a UEFA Cup hangover, instead putting the defeats at Dundee and Dundee United down to pure and simple bad luck. Against the Tangerines De Vries and his team-mates saw two shots cleared off the line, Paul Gallagher pulled off a fantastic stop from near point-blank range and an effort come back off the upright which the Dutchman insists is proof that his side are not going through any kind of confidence crisis.

"It has been a hard week or so and we have lost three games in a row but the fighting spirit of the team is definitely still there," he said.

"After Bordeaux we were up for the game against Dundee United but didn’t get the result we wanted and then the same happened at Dundee in the cup on Wednesday.

"Nobody is down though and everybody believes in the team and what we are trying to do. A few weeks ago we would probably have played the same kind of game as we have in the last few and would have won but that happens sometimes in football.

"Against Dundee United and Dundee normally the chances we had would go in but that just wasn’t the case. We were just unlucky in the end."

And the former Dordrecht frontman, who is the Jambos’ top scorer so far this term, insists that the past few results have not dented the players’ belief that they can finish in third spot and again qualify for European competition.

"I think the form has been OK, we have played some good football and created a lot of chances and when that happens things begin to go right at some point.

"We are still in third, everyone is still focused and is putting in a lot of effort so there is no need to be down."

Taken from the Scotsman