Uche Ikpeazu has leapt to the defence of under-fire Hearts gaffer Craig Levein – and says irate fans should lay off him.
The Jambos boss got it in the neck from punters after their derby defeat on Saturday allowed Hibs to leapfrog them in the league.
Hearts have squandered an 11-point lead over the Hibees since Paul Heckingbottom arrived at Easter Road.
And at the weekend, they threw away a lead in Gorgie to lose 2-1 thanks to Daryl Horgan’s double.
At full-time, Levein got dog’s abuse from angry supporters in the main stand.
But striker Ikpeazu is adamant that Levein is not to blame for their form slump – and says they’ll make it up to fans by winning Saturday’s Scottish Cup semi-final against Inverness Caley Thistle at Hampden.
He said: “The fans should be angry because we lost a derby game. They’re not going to be happy about it.
“I don’t blame them for their reaction but we’ll bounce back.
“Craig Levein has done a great job for this club, especially compared to last season.
“We’re in the semi-finals of the Scottish Cup and still trying to get into the top four of the Premiership.
“So I don’t see why anybody should be getting on to him.
“He’s a good manager and a good person. We’re all right behind him and I believe we can still achieve something this season. It’s just about having a positive mindset now.
“We can’t win every game and obviously it’s frustrating right now. But in football you’re going to have bad times as well as good.
“We’ve got to produce a performance next week against Inverness and if we play how we did on Saturday we’ll be fine.
“There’s no pressure. As players we’ve just got to do what we need to do in our next game which is the semi-final.
“We have to try and be positive and give a good performance. That’s who we are – we’re a team who has bounced back from losses before.
“That’s what we’ll do again.”
“We can’t win every game and obviously it’s frustrating right now. But in football you’re going to have bad times as well as good.
“We’ve got to produce a performance next week against Inverness and if we play how we did on Saturday we’ll be fine.”
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