Head coach Derek McInnes admits he is expecting a tough challenge when Falkirk visit Tynecastle this Saturday.
John McGlynn’s newly promoted side travel to Gorgie this weekend fresh off the back of an entertaining 2-2 draw with Hibernian during the week and having picked up their first Premiership victory over the season over Aberdeen, a side not to be underestimated.
As for the men in maroon, they themselves come into the match full of confidence following an impressive victory at Ibrox, but McInnes insists the group remain with feet firmly on the ground.
Speaking to the media at the pre-match press conference, he said:
“Falkirk have looked like a Premier League team now for the last 15 months or so. They're a good side with a lot of good players. And I think having won the Championship a couple of times and hang on to that core of players, which is so important. There's a lot of loyalty there.
“Players who have done the business for them and are now relishing the Premier League. You don't get to be a manager in the Premier League if you don't know what you're doing. John knows what he's doing. He's got good evidence. He's been around the block with a lot of clubs.
“So, it's a tough game, but every game in the Premier League is hard. It is hard to win. And Saturday will be no different for us.
“We're only a few games into the season. And I've said this and I'll continue to say it. You only get a real flavour of where you're at as a club, after the first couple of rounds of fixtures.
“If we're through the first couple of rounds of fixtures and we're sitting where we are, then we can have a different type of conversation. But for me, we just need to knuckle down and get on with the job.
“The season's in its infancy. Although we're getting into October, there's not been a lot of league games. And we just need to try and improve. The important thing for us is everybody needs to have that responsibility that we need to improve as we go along.”
Meanwhile there was good news on the injury front, as McInnes confirmed Christian Borchgrevink is available for selection, following a spell on the sidelines, however Frankie Kent is expected to miss the next few weeks, with Craig Gordon and Ageu also out.
“Christian is available. He played a bounce game against Ayr United last week and he came through that fine. He's trying to build up his minutes towards this game now.
“He's coming from a long way back. Obviously, he got injured at the start of the campaign. So, we're mindful of that as well, but it's good to have all your players available. It means you've got some decisions to make. But you'd rather have those decisions than having too many out.
“Frankie Kent is missing. Since we last spoke, he's had his operation and he's on track to come back, as we thought, maybe four to six weeks, so he's probably a couple of weeks into that now.
“Ajeu had his scan this morning, just his follow-up scan, so we're waiting on word back from that. Hopefully by the close of play today we'll have a rough idea how that's looking, but he's actually presenting well, so obviously we're fingers crossed with that one.
“Craig Gordon's still out. He picked up a little hamstring thing, it's not a hamstring tear or anything, he just felt a wee bit of discomfort at the top end, but he's back out doing a wee bit of handling today, so he's definitely going the right way, but he's not available for the weekend.”
You can watch Derek’s press conference in full on Hearts TV.
