Hearts captain Lawrence Shankland spoke to the press after the defeat to St Mirren as he addressed some of the issues the team have faced, including their struggles away from home.

You would put money on yourself burying the late chance?

“It is a big chance but the goalie makes the save. I tried to go under him. I've not seen it back but you expect yourself to score there but I didn’t.”

How frustrating is it not being able to build on last week?

“It’s been the story for a while, to be honest. We’ve hardly won an away game. Last season, this season we beat St Johnstone but apart from that we’ve not been great away. It is frustrating, we are obviously coming here with a bit of momentum and had a game plan. We know what St Mirren are like, we know how they play the game, it's just trying to be better than that. We created three chances to be fair, I had one, Cammy [Devlin] and Kye [Rowles] header off the line. If they go in it would be a different scoreline and everything looks different so it is frustrating. 

Has the away form been talked about?

"It would be stupid not to. We need to take notice of it. It’s a frustration for everybody but we’re not playing good enough to win away games.

Why has it been so difficult to get results away from home?

"No idea to be honest. We seem to look a different team when we play at Tynecastle. You have got to have a bit more about you."

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A poor goal to lose as well?

“Losing the goal so early in the game. When you come away to places like this, playing St Mirren who are doing really well, I'm not being disrespectful, if they get a call they are hard to break down and they know that. We knew that coming into the game. We gave them a goal. They didn’t have to do anything brilliant to break us down. It’s just one ball across the goal, we all leave it and it ends up in the net. Right away you have a mountain to climb. St Mirren are good at making the game difficult, that’s what they do.”

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Seemed to be difficult to find space against the St Mirren defence?

“There isn’t much, that's how they play. Their back three is really narrow and it is quite difficult to find space. Then when you get to wide areas, you need quality balls into the box and to try and find people. Are we getting that? Probably not. It’s not an individual thing, that’s a collective. Final balls need improved."

Is that the difference, St Mirren had that?

“I don’t think they looked to use them that much. When the ball drops they hook it into wide areas, that’s where they get their joy, it’s all second balls. I'm not trying to be disrespectful, it’s what they are good at. They are good at second balls, dropping in to hook it, making you defend. They are really good at what they do. They got their goal and defended well enough to stop us scoring.”

Are St Mirren European contenders?

“The league table kind of tells you that. They’re a good side. They did well last year, they’ve got the foundations and have built on that.

“If we want to be where we want to be, we’ve got to concentrate on ourselves. We need to look to come to places like this and get a point at least, if we’re not going to win.”