Daniel Stendel last night delivered a damning verdict on Hearts ’ survival hopes by admitting his players lack the stomach for a survival fight.
The Jambos are rooted to the bottom of the Premiership after Jon Obika’sgoal left them four points adrift. Boss Stendel raced straight up the tunnel at the end and admitted time is running out on his side.
He said: “There are no reasons for performances like this. I can’t understand why we weren’t ready. I have no reasons for this, especially after our results last week.
“I said to the players that today wasn’t the knockout decision but it was a big punch for us.
“I can say I will never give up and I expected the same from my players. But we cannot play like this.
“It doesn’t matter if we win or lose – we can’t play without a fight given our position in the league. In the first half that wasn’t enough.
“No one expected a performance like that in the first half. We still had 45 minutes to win this game but that wasn’t the first time this season that we’ve conceded a goal in the first five minutes of the second half.
“That was a big disappointment. From the first minute we were not ready.
“We didn’t play how we wanted to play and St Mirren played how we expected. We conceded a goal in the second half but it was more our fault than a great chance for them and it decided the game.
“You can’t say we didn’t react – we tried but we didn’t do the right things.
“We didn’t have many chances but St Mirren didn’t have too many either. Some of our players’ performances were not very good.”
The German refused to concede Hearts are now approaching the point of no return as they face a drop into the Championship with a trip looming to Livingston on Sunday.
He said: “We’ve lost one of the biggest games, maybe of the whole season. But this was not the end of the league. In three days we have the next chance but we’re running out of games.
“We need wins. It doesn’t matter how many. We just need wins. With performances like this we won’t get too many.”
Meanwhile, jubilant Saints boss Jim Goodwin hailed his side’s character and all-for-one display that hauled the Buddies up to ninth in the table.
He said: “We spoke before the game about character and desire.
“Sometimes managers get credit for tactics or changes that they make but this result is not about me. I can take no credit. It was a performance where the players deserve all the plaudits for it.
“It was a performance of sheer attitude and
resilience. Everything you want from a group of players and there wasn’t one below-par display. To a man everyone did a job and I’m really pleased.
“I am delighted, it was a big night for the club and our biggest game of the season.
“It was massive that we didn’t lose the game, first and foremost, but in my head I wanted to keep the gap to three points at least.
“So I didn’t think we needed to go gung-ho and try to win the game. I thought it was more of a must-win game for Hearts.
“But the fact we’ve managed to extend that gap at the bottom to six points is a huge relief.
“It’s significant as if we’d lost we’d have gone to the bottom of the table.
“The fact we have won it and managed to jump a few places in the league gives everyone around the club a lift psychologically.
“I told the players to enjoy it but not to get carried away.
“We have to make sure that’s our mindset going into the last eight games of the season.”
