Gary's great away-day

Hearts boss Gary Locke was a happy man as the Jambos defeated Kilmarnock 1-0 at Rugby Park on Saturday afternoon.

John Sutton's 4th minute goal was the difference in a match that Hearts dominated, and were unfortunate to have just the single goal to show for it, especially after Ryan Stevenson failed to convert a second half penalty.

Speaking in the Kilmarnock media centre after the match, Gary opined that Hearts were the better team throughout the match and weren't really threatened by the home side.

"I thought over the course of the game we deserved the win", said the gaffer. "I felt we were on the front foot for most of the match, and in turn defended really well. We restricted them to a single wee spell at the end, which you'd always expect away from home, and we were comfortable."

Two of the most impressive players on the day were Jason Holt and Jamie Walker, the latter winning Hearts a penalty after a sensational solo run that saw him beat a multitude of Kilmarnock players before being bundled over by Mo Sissoko. Despite this, Gary was keen to praise the team as a unit, although he admitted he'd been impressed by the two wide players.

"I wasn't just pleased with Jamie Walker and Jason Holt, they were superb but so were the whole team. I got the commitment I was looking for. If we play that way for the rest of the season we'll pick up points. The aim is to win every game from now until the end of the season."

Gary stated that, with Hearts in the bottom six, the main aim was to finish in seventh place as a bare minimum, to allow Hearts access to greater finance to help fund next season. With the Jambos recording back-to-back SPL wins for the first time this season, the gaffer was happy with how things were progressing.

"We're now two points behind Kilmarnock, and they're where we want to be in 7th place. We just need to keep the momentum going after the two wins."

Finally, Gary provided an update on the injury status of Michael Ngoo, the on-loan hitman having to leave proceedings after 48 minutes with an upper body injury.

"Michael has a shoulder injury so we took him off as a precaution", he revealed. "I thought wee Dale Carrick did really well when he came on too, which was encouraging. If we can get a few experienced players to compliment the talented youngsters for next season, things will be looking promising.

Hearts World