The draw against Petrocub felt – and sounded – like a defeat for those Hearts fans inside Tynecastle.

The chance to continue a European campaign beyond Christmas for the first time since 1989 was squandered and the 17,000 fans rightly vented their frustrations.

With the team rock bottom of the Premiership and looking utterly devoid of confidence, the heat is now very much on for improvements on the pitch.

Neil Critchley said after the elimination from Europe he knows this is a results business. He is right. Steven Naismith was shown the door for a poor run of form at the start of the campaign, and many will now be saying Critchley should follow him.

But the players shouldn’t be spared blame. We already know there will be a major overhaul of the squad next summer. Many of the players nearing the end of their deals are showing little appetite or desire to continue their time at Hearts.

Adam Forrester, James Wilson and Macauley Tait have been drafted in recently, but these are talented young players who should be learning the game either in B team football or out on loan. Only then will will we know if they are ready to handle the expectation levels at Tynecastle.

The next few weeks are pivotal for Hearts’ season. With three of the next four matches at home there is the perfect opportunity to erase the memory, as difficult as that will be, of what happened against Petrocub.

Come through these matches with enough points to steer away from the bottom of the table and only then can there be some positivity around the club.

Failure, though, will only ramp up the pressure further on the team and management.