Stunned caretaker boss Austin MacPhee has opened up on the "guilt" engulfing Hearts following the sacking of Craig Levein .
The 40-year-old will take charge for Sunday's Betfred Cup semi-final against Rangers after defeat by St Johnstone proved Levein's final game in charge.
Levein finally paid the price for a horror start to the Premiership campaign which sees the Jambos sit level bottom of the table with just one win from 11 matches.
When asked for his reaction, MacPhee said: "Shock, to be honest. The timing of it, even in the media people thought the semi-final as a crucial game if we hadn't won in midweek.
"I'm confident that we can use the next 48 hours as well as we possibly can to prepare the team to give it the best chance of success in the game.
"I think in any situation like this the first thing they feel is guilt. All of us do. It's the byproduct of everybody in the organisation not performing at the levels they should be.
"That was articulated this morning and, for the supporters, we now need to turn that into something positive and make sure the team put in a performance that shows what the players who are available are capable of."
But there was better news on the injury front for Hearts with Steven Naimsith leading a trio of injured Jambos nearing a return.
"Steven (Naismith) trained today. Peter Haring did some training today. Jamie Walker did some training today. The rest of them were okay. Steven could participate."
