THE season starts now. That is the view of Hearts striker Isma Goncalves, as the Portuguese striker hopes a return to the club’s ancestral home proves the impetus for the Tynecastle club to kick out of the form slump which has left them trailing city rivals Hibs by ten points. Defeat to Kilmarnock at BT Murrayfield on Sunday was Hearts’ third in a row, leaving them with just goal difference to thank as they hang onto a top-six spot. Goncalves, still chiding himself for failing to score the winning goal just seconds before Kilmarnock went up the park to grab all three points on Sunday, feels it is too early for anyone to panic just yet. He hopes everything will click as the club finally return home to Tynecastle in a fortnight’s time against Partick Thistle, by which time they should also have the likes of Arnaud Djoum, Jamie Walker, Prince Buaben and Aaron Hughes available again after injury.
“It’s frustrating,” said Goncalves. “We are in a moment where everything is going wrong. But going back to Tynecastle, hopefully things will go better there. Hopefully things can click there because we are working hard, we are trying hard and giving everything on the pitch. Playing at Tynecastle can help us a lot with our fans with us.
“Of course I should have scored on Sunday,” he added. “I wanted to score but it’s football. If you don’t score another team might score. I’ve not seen it again but I’m not happy about it. But now it’s finished. I can’t change it so I must go forward and think about the next game.
“It’s early in the season. We are a big club and we have a massive support with our fans. The season is far from finished. We are starting now. We are going back to our home and the season begins there now.”
Hearts final record at Murrayfield will read one win, one draw, and three losses from their five Premiership matches. “Of course it’s difficult to play there,” said Goncalves. “It’s a huge stadium, it’s not full. The fans who were here we could hear them on the pitch and feel them. It was still nice to play here with our fans but of course its different from Tynecastle. There things are more compact, the fans are closer. It’s like having a 12th player. I have seen the new stand and it’s looking nice.
“We are not doing perfectly so it’s normal they are angry and we understand that. But we are trying to improve and they must see this also and keep staying with us. In football you can play and win games. Then no-one speaks about it. It’s just football.
“Ten points behind Hibs It’s quite a lot but it’s not impossible to catch them. We haven’t played at home yet. They’ve had six games at home I think. Nothing is finished. We have a good run of games at home which we must win and get closer.”
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