St Johnstone shot themselves in the foot at Tynecastle, according to Perth boss Callum Davidson.
The McDiarmid Park manager was happy that his team emerged from the mid-season break to put on a good performance in the first half against Hearts.
But he was left to curse the return of bad habits with self-inflicted goals that saw Saints go down to their ninth defeat on the bounce.
“The first half was even,” said Davidson.
“There were good signs there.
“We worked really hard on our shape, our discipline and our transition.
“I thought we did that really well.
“We grew into the game and got better.
“You go in at half-time and basically say to the players: ‘Go and do that again’.
“Then we’re 30 yards into their half and five seconds later we’re 1-0 down.
“It was really disappointing.
“And the second goal was the same.
“We were attacking and five seconds later we’ve been done on the counter again.
“It’s hard to take.
“The players put a lot into the game but we can’t concede goals like that – especially with the position we’re in – at a place like Tynecastle.
“The two goals were far too easy.”
Davidson gave debuts to new recruits Nadir Ciftci and Dan Cleary.
Ciftci impressed
And both made a good first impression.
“Nadir was excellent tonight,” he said.
“He showed that little spark and his movement was excellent.
“I thought Dan did well as well.
“It was his first game in six to eight weeks.
“Hopefully we can add a few more faces before the end of the window.
“We’re working hard.
“It’s important that we do it.
“You can see the lift that Nadir and the other lads have given the squad.
“We need to keep fighting.”
Liam Craig to Falkirk link
Liam Craig has been linked with a move back to Falkirk but Davidson poured cold water on that.
“At the moment we’re in no position to let players go,” he said. “We’re all about keeping players.”
Saints face Kelty Hearts in the Scottish Cup on Saturday and will then have a chance to get off the bottom of the Premiership when Dundee visit McDiarmid Park.
“All the games are huge,” said Davidson. “It doesn’t matter what team we’re playing.
“The cup game we’ve got next is huge. It’s really important we try and do the right things and then we can worry about the Dundee game.”
