Neil Critchley maintains ‘balanced’ outlook in wake of Hearts’ derby defeat

Neil Critchley will maintain a “balanced” outlook as he bids to spark a positive response after a ferocious backlash from Hearts supporters in the wake of their latest Edinburgh derby defeat by Hibernian.

The Jambos are reeling after losing back-to-back league matches against their city rivals for the first time since 2009, with Hibs backing up their 2-1 Boxing Day triumph at Tynecastle with victory by the same scoreline at Easter Road on Sunday.

Critchley – although having overseen a notable upturn in Hearts’ form since his appointment in October – accepted the flak coming his and the players’ way after their meek second-half display at the home of their bitter rivals.

“Yes, there’s a fallout after every derby game, isn’t there?” he said. “But it’s my job to keep as balanced as possible and I know that’s difficult because emotions run high and everyone has an opinion.

“I have to make sure that I block out some of that noise and speak to the players and take responsibility for what we didn’t do well enough and learn from it and do better at it. It’s as simple as that.

“Whenever you lose a big game, there’s always going to be criticism, whether that’s justified or not or whether it’s right or not. It just happens.”

Critchley has now failed to beat Hibs in any of his three derbies in charge, but he dismissed any suggestion that his team have become afflicted by a mental block in the fixture.

“No, I don’t think it’s at that stage yet,” he said. “Whatever team you’re playing, you have to show the right mentality in every game. In the first half I felt we did, the second half we didn’t.

“For us to become the team I want us to become in the future, our identity, you can see it’s sort of in a transitional moment. We’ve got to get better at becoming the team that we want to become for the whole game.

“That takes quality, that takes the right belief, the right mentality in what you’re doing. We suffered because of our defensive organisation and our quality in the second half.”

Hearts’ defeat on Sunday allied to Motherwell’s surprise win at Ibrox the previous day left the Jambos back in the bottom six after they climbed into the top six for the first time this season with victory over St Mirren last Wednesday.

With just four games to go until the split, Critchley admits his seventh-placed side face a fight to finish in the top half.

“Yes, definitely,” he said. “I think it’ll go down, possibly, to the last weekend. There’s four games to go now before the split and it’s very tight, so every point matters.

“We’ve lost an opportunity to get back into the top six, but we have to show a response from this and go again. We’ve been on a good run. (Sunday) was a huge disappointment and it’s up to us now to show a response.”