Why it's a very good time for this Hearts team to go on an absolute tear

Overall, things have gone fairly well. They’re top of the second-tier with a healthy five-point lead over second-place Dunfermline. They defeated arch-rivals Hibs in the Scottish Cup semi-finals and came within two spot-kicks of beating Celtic and stopping the Parkhead side’s run of four successive trebles.

However, things have been far from perfect. The loss to Dundee last time out was their third defeat of the season to Championship opposition, all of which have come away from Tynecastle. The lead sits at five points, but with a flurry of matches coming up in a tight schedule they cannot rest on their laurels.

The rapid spread of the new strain of Covid-19 has put into doubt the 2020/21 Scottish football campaign being played to a conclusion. The bottom two tiers have already saw their matches suspended. Seeing as the Championship was previously lumped in with League One and League Two when it came to starting the season late due to previous coronavirus fears, it’s fortunate and a little surprising the second tier hasn’t also been shut down.

With Dundee in red-hot form and now just five points behind themselves, Hearts won’t want to drop any more points in the coming weeks, especially with the weather taking a turn and the prospect of matches being postponed. One defeat and one postponement could see Hearts knocked from the top of the table at a time when they league season could be curtailed on extremely short notice. Such a scenario would be a complete nightmare for Hearts supporters and disastrous for the club.

Even if that’s fanciful, it’s about time this squad got its finger out and started laying waste to the competition in the same manner they did in 2014/15, when they swept to the title with a record 91 points from 36 games. They’ve played like that at Tynecastle, but none of their away trips have been all that convincing.

For Robbie Neilson and the team it may not matter exactly how they win the league, just that it gets done. Undoubtedly that’s the priority, first and foremost, but this is a hellish time in the life of every Hearts fan. Seeing their team score five goals away to Morton or Inverness or whomever isn’t going to magically stop the burden of lockdown, but it’ll at least give them something to smile about and brighten up Saturdays.

The talent is certainly there, it just hasn’t all clicked together. Though there are concerns in defence, the problems have mainly arisen from the wings where neither Elliott Frear nor Jordan Roberts have played to expectation, while Josh Ginnelly has been largely unavailable due to injury. It’s meant Hearts have had to go with higher performing stars out of position on the flanks, like Olly Lee, Jamie Walker or Steven Naismith. It’s made the side a little disjointed at times.

The arrival of Gary Mackay-Steven and return of Ginnelly to training should make them a much more exciting and dangerous proposition. And what better time to start than at Alloa this weekend as they seek revenge for November’s League Cup exit? It’s time to start flexing those muscles.

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