ROBERTSON FEELS THE STRAIN

Hearts boss John Robertson admits his players are making the kind of high-profile errors which put managers under pressure.

The ex-Inverness coach is working under strain at Tynecastle, with persistent rumours of unrest behind the scenes and friction with new major shareholder Vladimir Romanov threatening to overshadow his long-awaited return to Gorgie.

The Lithuanian tycoon has previously demanded Robertson take the club into the UEFA Cup, but they lie eight points behind Edinburgh rivals Hibs and slipped to their third successive defeat against Dundee United.

An error from youngster Jason Thomson allowed Barry Robson in for the Tangerines' opening goal and, although Lee Miller equalised within a minute, Robertson was incensed by his players' cheap surrender of possession in the lead up to Grant Brebner's spectacular 92nd-minute winner.

"I can't believe we've lost the last two games but similar to Wednesday, if you don't take your chances it will cost you," he moaned.

"People have to stand up and be counted. Players don't lose their jobs because of these mistakes, it's managers and coaches.

"They kill you at times and that's what's happening to us, we are losing too many soft goals and making everything hard for ourselves.

"I thought we dominated the game up until the last five or 10 minutes and passed United to death at times," he added.

"But we let them back in by trying to run with the ball and giving possession away cheaply.

"Too often we chose the wrong option and were eventually punished for it.

"I'm not taking anything away from Grant Brebner because it was a magnificent goal worthy of winning any game.

"It is particularly disappointing because of the Hibs and Aberdeen results because anything we got here would take us closer to them."

United manager Gordon Chisholm admits his players looked off the pace for spells, but was delighted with the way they kept pushing for the victory right to the death.

The three points they picked up move them to ninth place, ahead of Livingston and Dunfermline, into a commanding position ahead of the split.

Chisholm, whose hopes of getting the manager's job on a full-time basis have taken a massive step forward over the last seven days, admits his team and in good shape but warned of more shock results in the month ahead.

"We've got a bit of momentum behind us now and it was very important that we got a win today," said Chisholm.

"I thought it was a fairly even game for long spells, but we looked quite jaded in the first half which is perhaps understandable after the week we've had.

"The players kept at it in the second half and you could see their determination in the closing stages. Grant's goal was worthy of winning any game and it's great for him to score one like that because he has been playing very well lately.

"Scoring so late on was quite satisfying because we've lost a lot of last-minute goals this season and hopefully it's a sign of our luck changing.

"The Livi result is a surprise, but at this stage of the season everyone is battling down there and there are probably a few more twists and turns left," he added.

"We are just concentrating on what we do now, it's important we don't look to far ahead.

"I thought the crowd were magnificent and helped us through a very tough 90 minutes."

Taken from sportinglife.com