Laszlo urges Hearts fans to focus on results

ANTHONY BROWN
CSABA LASZLO urged disenchanted Hearts fans to recognise the character of their side after they ground out a second successive 1-0 victory last night despite being a considerable way short of their best.
A sixth-minute goal from man-of-the-match Christian Nade – one of the few Hearts players to emerge with credit – ultimately proved decisive against a vibrant Hamilton Accies side.

Laszlo's men left the field at the end to a chorus of boos after they failed to build on their first-half superiority and allowed Accies, the league's bottom side, to boss the second half.

But the Hearts manager insisted his troops, who won at St Mirren despite playing more than half the game with ten men, should be commended for digging deep to notch a second victory in the space of five days and maintain their hold on fourth place in the SPL.

"I am satisfied with the result," he said. "Maybe the performance was not the best, but we must also talk about the opponents. They came and tried their best.

"The most important thing is the three points because, if you talk about football, you must talk about successful football.

"A 1-0 win is always very precious and we have now won our last two games 1-0. This speaks volumes for the team. If you win all your games 1-0 you will be champions.

"I know this was not a big football celebration from my team. Hamilton worked very hard and very physically but also they did not play nice football. We have the three points and to take six points in a week is important."

It seemed no coincidence that Hearts' performance level dipped considerably after Nade had to be replaced by Jamie Mole just after the hour mark after complaining of a tight muscle.

However, Laszlo admitted the fact his squad was depleted by injury and suspension made it difficult for him to change things. With Larry Kingston, Saulius Mikoliunas, Deividas Cesnauskis, Audrius Ksanavicius, Adrian Mrowiec and Mike Tullberg all sidelined by injury and Michael Stewart suspended, teenagers David Templeton and Conrad Balatoni were granted inclusion among the substitutes. But with the crowd growing more anxious by the minute as Hamilton threatened an equaliser, Laszlo was loathe to pitch either of his youngsters into proceedings.

He said: "On the bench we had a lot of young players. Jamie Mole and Robbie Neilson were the only ones with proper experience, apart from Juho Makela, so it was hard to change it. Also we had a lot of players like Bruno Aguiar, Robbie Neilson and David Obua, who have been out injured, so that makes it difficult on the pitch."

Taken from the Scotsman