Hearts boss Robbie Neilson praises John Souttar after defender booed by own fans

Hearts manager Robbie Neilson praised John Souttar for the way he handled being jeered by a section of his own team's supporters.

The long-serving defender angered some of the Tynecastle club's fanbase when it was confirmed last Friday that he had agreed a pre-contract with cinch Premiership rivals Rangers.

The Scotland centre-back was booed throughout the 2-0 win over St Johnstone by several home supporters, although others tried to drown out the noise by applauding whenever he touched the ball.

Souttar looked unfazed by the situation as he delivered an assured display.

Neilson said: "John is a mentally strong character. He's come back from three career-threatening injuries. I only know a few people who have come back from a single Achilles rupture, never mind three.

"You know he's very strong mentally, he can blank out the background noise and get on with the game. I thought he played very well."

Asked if he felt the booing of Souttar was counterproductive to the team, Neilson acknowledged the fans have a right to vent their feelings.

He said: "You pay your money, you come and to an extent you can say what you want. To an extent.

"John understands the situation. We understand it. But I keep coming back to it being about the football club moving forward.

"At this moment in time, what's best is that we put our best players on the pitch to win games and take us forward. The aim for us is trying to get to Europe. What a massive achievement it would be to get promoted from the Championship and qualify for Europe in the first year."

In that regard, Neilson was delighted to see his team pull eight points clear of Motherwell in the battle for third place in the Premiership.

He said: "These are the best nights, when you come in after the game and teams have dropped points here and there and you get yourself a bit further up.

"We are eight clear in third place. The aim for us now has to be up the way. We are nine behind Celtic. We've got them here in the next league game and it's a chance to get a wee bit closer again.

"If we can move up the way to these top teams, then we don't need to worry about what's behind us."

St Johnstone manager Callum Davidson lamented the loss of a goal so soon after half-time as his team remained two points adrift at the foot of the table.

He said: "The first half was even. There were good signs there in the first half. We worked really hard on our shape, our discipline and our transition. I thought we did that really well.

"You go in at half-time and basically say to the players: 'Go and do that again'. Then we're 30 yards into their half and five seconds later we're 1-0 down. It was really disappointing. And the second goal was the same. We were attacking and five seconds later we've been done on the counter again. It's hard to take.

"The players put a lot into the game but we can't concede goals like that - especially with the position we're in - at a place like Tynecastle."

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