Robbie Neilson felt for Gervane Kastaneer on his first Hearts start but praised the impact of Aaron McEneff off the bench against Queen of the South.
The Dutch winger started wide on the right but was substituted during the second half after failing to get much change out of on-loan Rangers left back James Maxwell
Neilson admitted that it wasn’t the type of game that suited Kastaneer’s strengths, although the on-loan Coventry man did try and take his man on when he was on the ball, but just didn’t have much joy.
Fellow new recruit McEneff was again a second half sub and made a difference as Hearts reduced a point with Liam Boyce’s stoppage time penalty to move 13 clear at the top of the Championship.
“I thought McEneff did really well when he came on,” said Neilson.
“I felt a wee bit for Gervane tonight because the surface makes it very difficult for people to go one v one.
“It’s all about balls in behind and things like that so I think we’ll see more of him when we get back on the good surface.”
Neilson also explained his thinking behind leaving striker Armand Gnanduillet out of the squad for the trip to Palmerston.
The French striker has been building his fitness up with appearances off the bench after arriving in January, but a slight issue meant Hearts were taking no risks with him.
Neilson told Hearts TV: “He had a tight hamstring so I just thought coming down to this pitch, we were considering going with one up top anyway so we thought it was bst just to rest him and make sure we didn’t take any risks.
“We expect him to be back training next week with us.
“It would have been good to have him but we;ve got to remember that Armand didn’t play a lot at the start of the season when he was over in Turkey.
“He came into us at the end of January and hadn’t trained since the start of December., so we just have to be careful that when he does get these wee niggles, we’re not pushing too hard because we don’t want him to be out for an extended period.”
