Levein sees the positives, but not the points
Craig Levin insists St Johnstone did not leave Tynecastle empty-handed – despite going down to a Lawrence Shankand goal.
Former Hearts boss Levein relished the challenge of going back to his old stomping ground and reckons there are plenty of positives to take from the way his team played.
Shankland’s fortuitous goal just after the hour came when the visitors were enjoying their best spell in the match.
Luke Robinson also denied what appeared to be a certain goal in the first half when his effort came back off Hearts keeper Zander Clark’s face from close range.
This was Levein’s third match in charge of the Perth outfit and even though they slipped back into the Premiership relegation zone, the ex-Scotland gaffer saw enough to believe that his side are on the right track.
He said: “We got something out of it in some regards but not the points.
“The first 15 minutes was a little bit of a disappointment as we didn’t really get going at all.
“I think we were nervous but after that we had a chance and it seemed to settle everybody down and we were never out of the game at all. It’s a bitter-sweet feeling because we did a lot of things well. “The work-rate was fabulous.
“It was a really competitive match. Our midfield in particular was really good and we got things out of it that we’d been working on the training ground, and defensively we were good but we didn’t get the points and that’s the most important thing.
“The pleasing things are the things that are hard to instil in a team, and that is the confidence to pass the ball and try to break the opposition down and create chances, and that in spells was really good.”
Levein added: “We were in the game at all times even after the goal, but what do you do with Liam Boyce and Lawrence Shankland if they get a chance?
“We tried to stop them getting chances and that was one of the things I was really pleased about.
“Apart from that opportunity we restricted them to very little but they’re just so good at putting the ball in the back of the net. We fell foul of that today.”