Lawrence Shankland confident Hearts can bounce back from ‘wobble’

Lawrence Shankland is confident Premiership leaders Hearts are merely enduring “a wee bit of a wobble” and will soon rediscover their poise to enjoy a fruitful season.

The Jambos were billed as potential title winners after their stunning start to the campaign took them nine points clear at the start of November.

But they have had to deal with questions about their mentality after failing to win any of their last four matches – three draws and a defeat – and allowing resurgent Celtic to draw level with them on points ahead of Sunday’s top-of-the-table showdown at Parkhead.

“The expectation comes from the more games you win,” said Shankland when asked if his side were struggling with the pressure of being league leaders.

“The excitement from the outside and all the noise around it probably doesn’t help, but at the same time when you have moments like this it feels like everything is a lot worse and the world is coming crashing down. But in reality, if you take a wee step back, it’s not.

“It’s just a wee bit of a wobble. But that pressure is going to be there if that’s where we’re going to be and you need to deal with that. It’s a new position for a lot of boys that have come into the club.

“Obviously everything has gone brilliantly to start with, you’re flying and everything feels good, but there was always going to come a wee moment like this. We’re still picking up points in this moment, I would rather that than losing games, but we want to get back to winning more often.

“We know the season is a bit of a marathon and we’re right at the start of it. We had a good start and there’s a long way to go, we can go and finish it really strong as well.

“You just need to sometimes take a wee step back, have a breath and just see where we’re really at. Right now we’re still in a good position.”

Comparisons have been made between the current Hearts side and last season’s Aberdeen team, who had a strong start before fading badly from November onwards and finishing fifth.

Asked if there was a danger of Hearts enduring a similarly sustained form dip, Shankland said: “If we were playing at our best and not winning I’d be more concerned, but I still think we’ve got things to tidy up on.

“The last few weeks just haven’t been up to scratch, including for me personally. These moments in the season can happen and it’s just getting through them.

“Everybody just need to stay positive, the world’s not ending. I’ve still got a really good feeling about this season and how it’s gone and hopefully the boys do as well.”

Shankland insists Hearts will head to Celtic Park full of belief.

“When you come this far in the season and you’re sitting with the same points as Celtic, it’s a good position to be in,” he said.

“We need to go through there with belief, it’s as simple as that. We’re in this position because we’ve been doing well and we deserve to be where we are.”