Harry Milne says he’s loving life at Hearts and admits the Hearts dressing room is a great place to be right now.
The men in maroon are on a winning streak, following Stuart Findlay’s late winner at Tannadice and the left-back explained the League Cup campaign has been beneficial to build some early momentum.
The Jambos are back in League Cup action this Saturday as they head to the SMiSA Stadium to take on St Mirren and speaking to the media at the pre-match press conference, Milne said:
“It was nice for us to get competitive games early on in the season, it's games we should be winning, but for us, it was a nice way to build some momentum.
“I feel like we've brought that into the first two league games of the season. Two different games, but I think we've shown the qualities in both games to go out and win. Things are a lot better when you're winning games and the atmosphere is nice, and I think there's a lot of new boys that have settled in really well.
“I think one of the other guys touched on the atmosphere within the dressing room on Sunday after the win.I’ve just got to echo that, because it's a great place to be.
“It was really big. At the end of the day, it's just three points, but you do talk about how you've got to build momentum. I thought for the vast majority of the game, we controlled it, and it was two sloppy goals from our perspective to let them back into it and I think they were pretty happy with protecting what they had, and they were wanting to sit in a bit.
“Especially if you looked at the stats, I think we dominated on that front, and it was about trying to break them down. up to kind of break them down. We're looking to be more of a threat from set plays, so it's nice to see that come to fruition now.”
Milne is enjoying a consistent run of games in the team, following James Penrice’s summer departure and believes the competition for places runs strong in every position.
“I’m really, really enjoying it. I made no secret last year that I wanted to come in and play football. Obviously, James [Penrice] had such an amazing season last season. It was always going to be quite tough for me coming into that environment, to try and displace him.
“But obviously, he's got a move now, which he thoroughly deserves. It's opened a door for me, but it’s also opened a door for Stephen Kingsley as well. So, there's a lot of competition for places and that's the same all over the squad.
“I think the manager's got a massive headache every Friday, heading into the weekend about who to play. But for me personally, to be able to get that nod in the first couple of games and deliver half-decent performances is a good way to go about it.”
On the challenge of St Mirren, this weekend, Milne added:
“We know it's going to be a tough, tough game. I think Steven Robinson has changed that St Mirren team to be a real force. They're a very physical team, especially at their ground. So that's something we have to be up for.
“I have to be up for the challenge; I have to be up for the fight. But we managed to put them out of the Scottish Cup last season, so there's no reason that we can't go there and go through.”
You can watch Harry’s press conference in full on Hearts TV.
