Gary Mackay-Steven insists a full Tynecastle can help ensure Hearts’ Premier Sports Cup defeat to Celtic is just a blip.
Robbie Neilson ’s side had won six out of six before Sunday, but left themselves too much to do at Celtic Park after going in at the break 2-0 down.
An improved second half showing saw them pull one back through Liam Boyce, but Kyogo Furuhashi’s strike meant Aaron McEneff’s stoppage time effort was just a consolation.
Mackay-Steven faces another of his old clubs this weekend when Aberdeen visit Gorgie.
The Jambos are able to admit all of their season ticket holders back into the stadium for the first time in 18 months, with further information about walk ups expected to be announced this week.
Just 5,000 roared them onto to victory against Celtic on the opening day of the Premiership season, and the winger can’t wait to experience what nearly 20,000 will be like for the first time as a Hearts player.
“We just need to make sure this is a little blip, we go again,” he said. “We’ll be at home and we’ll look forward to that for sure.
“Aberdeen are doing really well lately, there has been a lot of changes there. They will be right up for it.
“Having supporters is unbelievable. Every player would say the same. It is so good.
“Can’t wait for that.”
After beating the Hoops on the opening day, Mackay-Steven was expecting a response from Ange Postecoglou’s team when they met again, and that’s exactly what happened.
“We knew they would come out flying,” he said.
“They’ve played really well in the last few games, in Europe, here against Dundee so we knew it was going to be a tough game.
“It was a tough game at Tynecastle, they played well in spells there too.
“It’s always tough coming here.
“We need to dust ourselves down, regroup and look at what went wrong and what we can do better.”
Despite getting their act together after half-time, Mackay-Steven admitted the visitors were “chasing shadows” before the break.
He added: “In the first half they were in the ascendency, got the first goal and the crowd with them.
“They played some really good stuff, we were a bit off the pace.
“We were kicking ourselves at half-time. We weren’t at it at all.
“We were a few yards off everyone.
“They were just playing passes around us and we were chasing shadows a lot of the time.
“It was tough, it was frustrating but we regrouped.
“The manager tweaked a few things with the formation and it helped. We got closer to their goal.
“We regrouped, changed our shape a little in the second half. It was a little better.
“We improved, started playing closer to their goal, pressed them higher and better but Celtic played really well."
