Gary Glen insists Hearts' confidence is still high despite Celtic loss

It was the scale of the defeat at Celtic Park, rather than the bare fact of the dropped three points, that persuaded many observers to conclude that Hearts' challenge was over. Yet, while Neil Lennon's team played well, Hearts contributed greatly to their own downfall, with their normally parsimonious defence looking all at sea.

In other words, they know they can play far better. What is more, they know they will have to against St Johnstone, who produced a near-perfect game plan to knock Hearts out of the Scottish Cup earlier this month.

The decisive factor is likely to be how badly Hearts' morale has been damaged by that loss to Celtic, and how desperate their players are to make amends for their substandard showing in Glasgow. Or, as Gary Glen said: "It's how we pick ourselves up.

"Obviously with the run of games we've been on, confidence was high, but sometimes you have these games. We've just got to bounce back from (the Celtic match] and show what we're capable of on Saturday."

"After being on that great run we've had one bad result," the striker continued. "We're not going to let ourselves get down about that: we're still high on confidence and we're going to show people that we are capable of that. A result on Saturday will put us in great spirits for the game coming up against Rangers on Wednesday.

"We need to bounce back from games like this. We can't let it get to us, because, if it does, we're going to struggle on Saturday."

And, if Hearts do struggle today, they are even more likely to struggle on Wednesday, when they visit Ibrox. St Johnstone are unbeaten in their last five games, and Glen expects them to be tough opponents.

"We just need to try and get a result on Saturday, and I've got every confidence we will. St Johnstone will make it hard for us, but we're all confident. We're still in the mix of things and we'll go out on Saturday looking forward to the game. If we get a result there we'll be even more confident in our ability and look forward to Wednesday's game."

Glen has been restricted to a few appearances off the bench this season, but with Kevin Kyle a doubt and Calum Elliot still out, he is getting closer to winning a start.

Taken from the Scotsman