Gary Locke: 'We must improve up front'

Hearts manager Gary Locke has warned his side that they must improve up front following their 1-0 defeat at the hands of St Johnstone.

The Jambos boss is eager to chip away at the 15-point penalty imposed on the club for entering administration, but insists that they are not feeling sorry for themselves.

"We wanted to eat into that 15 points quickly but one thing is for sure, we'll not feel sorry for ourselves," Sky Sports News quotes Locke as saying. "We have another cracking game next weekend and it's a game we will have to pick up points in.

"It was a frustrating day. We can certainly play better than that. It was one of those days. There wasn't a lot of quality and we lost a poor goal as well.

"We know we have to improve in the final third. I'm not going to stand here and make excuses but we need to take shots when we create openings."

Hearts take on Edinburgh rivals Hibernian next weekend in their second game of the new Scottish Premier League campaign.