ROBBIE NEILSON is certain his misfiring front-men will shake off their recent goal drought – as long as Hearts keep creating the same amount of chances.
The Jambos succumbed to just their second defeat in eight outings on Wednesday night when Kilmarnock claimed a 2-0 triumph at Rugby Park thanks to screamers from Souleymane Coulibaly and Steven Smith.
By contrast, the capital club were wasteful with their opportunities, most notably in the early exchanges when Tony Watt fluffed his lines from six yards as he met a wonderful Robbie Muirhead delivery.
Hearts’ striking pool of Watt, Conor Sammon, Bjorn Johnsen and Muirhead have scored just three Premiership goals between them this term, while last season’s top scorer Juanma has been farmed out on loan to Spanish side UCAM Murcia.
“We had loads of good chances but didn’t take them,” rued Neilson.
“If we score then maybe it’s a different story – but we didn’t. You look at the game and we had the two best chances to score yet we got beat 2-0. It summed up how we have been recently.
“We started well and had an unbelievable opportunity to score [through Watt] but if you don’t take chances then you don’t win games. That’s it, end of story.
“It’s football and scoring goals is the hardest thing to do, no matter what anyone says. That’s why strikers get paid the most money. It happens and you go through periods when you won’t score many goals. But we need to keep creating.”
Neilson insists their top priority is to ensure there is no hangover from their defeat in Ayrshire when they visit Inverness this weekend, knowing Richie Foran’s resurgent side could move to within a point of them with a win.
Hearts have not won a match at the Caledonian Stadium for SIX YEARS and is desperate for a change of fortunes on Saturday.
Neilson added: “Inverness got a great result on Wednesday and you’d expect them to do exactly what Kilmarnock did to us – so we’ll have to be ready and play better than we did there.
“Wednesday was a tough night and the players are disappointed. But it’s a long season, we’ll lose games and it’s about how we react to it.”
