Liam Fox cannot “flick a switch” to instil confidence in his Heart of Midlothian side.
That was the interim manager’s message after Lawrence Shankland’s late header salvaged a point for the Tynecastle Park club.
The 1-1 draw at home to Ross County may give the Gorgie outfit something to build on, as pointed out by Fox, but it leaves Hearts with no wins from their opening 10 matches.
It stopped the rotten run of consecutive defeats but that was small consolation for an angry home support following the full-time whistle.
“I’m not sitting here celebrating taking a point,” said Fox.
“What pleased me is we kept going, we kept playing forward and kept going – that was the most important thing.
“On the run we’ve had, it would have been easy to go into their shells but Lawrence came up with the goods at the end.
“But we’re not celebrating a point, although we’re glad to get something.
“When you play here you know the demand and we’re asking players to take more risks. I felt we created some good chances.
“When you’re on the run we’ve been on the confidence is low and you can’t just flick a switch.
“You can’t just give someone a shot of confidence, I’d love to be able to flick a switch.
“I only have the job for a few weeks and today is hopefully a step.
“Hopefully the way we came back today can be the start of that.”
Hearts fell behind to a fizzing first-half strike from County striker Ronan Hale.
It came after the home side had spurned a number of chances, including in the opening minutes when defender Ryan Leak blocked on the line when Cammy Devlin looked certain to score.
It took for Shankland’s 96th-minute equaliser to earn a point, though seconds before he would have been forgiven for thinking it would be another blank when Ross Laidlaw made a fantastic save with his foot from the striker.
“We are disappointed with a point and we had to go to the 96th minute, but we fought through it,” added Fox.
“There’s no easy fix for it. I felt the disappointment in the changing room but we have to move forward now.”
“We have a big week to look forward to and a good challenge.
“Nobody doubts Lawrence’s ability. He’s been on a difficult run but good strikers keep going and he got his reward for that.
“Ask any striker, they love scoring goals and if they don’t they can get down on themselves.
“I’ve not felt that from him this week. He kept going and got his rewards at the end.”
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