Frankie Kent gives brutally honest Hearts verdict of Dundee implosion as shellshocked star admits 'we were c**p'

The Jambos defender pulled no punches in his assessment of the collapse on Tayside

Frankie Kent slammed Hearts’ c**p demise at Dens and says there are no excuses.

The Tynecastle defender confessed lessons must be learned fast from a brutal education on Tayside. Kent was on the scoresheet with a second-half header but the devastating damage was inflicted long before his headed effort due to a dismal opening period.

Steven Naismith’s side were miles off the pace and a collapse in stoppage-time saw them go from one to three down as they lost their shape and their cool. Trailing to Scott Tiffoney’s pinpoint opener, Hearts hit the self-destruct button.

Costa Rican full-back Gerald Taylor escaped with a yellow card after crunching Tiffoney on the touchline but moments later he’d been dragged infield to poke a ridiculous own goal. It went from bad to worse when Kent himself blundered by hanging out a leg to deck Tiffoney which allowed Luke McCowan to slam a killer third from the penalty spot.

Hearts imploded and the English defender didn’t hide from the facts as Kent said: “That hasn’t been like us probably since the start of last season. I don’t know why it was. It's probably too early to try and explain it. We probably have to watch it back and see. It was a crap first half. We obviously did a bit better in the second but they changed how they played. It wasn’t good.

“I wouldn’t say it’s a wake-up call, I feel it’s a good learning curve for them. Early doors, they get to see what’s demanded and what’s needed from us when you go to places like Dens Park. You see how Dundee celebrated at the end, there is a big expectation on us now to get wins because we did that last season. That’s on us, there’s no excuse. We need to put it right.”

It was a collective failure but new faces such as Taylor were exposed to some harsh truths about the cut-throat nature of the Scottish Premiership. Man of the Match on his debut against Rangers, the right-back was tortured into submission by Tiffoney and it was just as challenging for first starter Daniel Ogeyoke.

Kent says it’s about learning quick and knitting together and added: “Of course it’s for everyone in the team. I learned quickly last season, with the slow start we had, what was expected and needed from us. These boys, no excuse, but they are young. They are fresh to it and new to it. Maybe it’s a bit of a blessing in disguise, really, that it’s come. We don’t want to lose games and we definitely weren’t good enough.”

Naismith bemoaned the lack of game-management in that torrid three-minute spell prior to the interval. At 2-0 down it was salvageable but Kent’s penalty concession was a fatal blow.

Asked if composure had been lost within the group, he said: “At that point it was 100 miles an hour and we probably didn’t make the decisions we should have, definitely from when they scored their second goal. It’s a difficult one because I haven’t seen that from us in a long time. That 20-minute spell in the second part of the first half was disappointing.”

Naturally, Naismith’s charge of shape from the opening day came in for scrutiny afterwards. Switching from a back four, picking Ogeyoke and dropping Yan Dhanda, the plan surprised opposite number Tony Docherty.

Regardless, Dundee cut it apart. Naismith didn’t feel it was the issue and Kent was much the same as he pointed to various alterations in system during last term’s successful runs.

He said: “We thought we played here last year in similar games and played in a way we thought could hurt Dundee. That was the reasoning for it. It looked like it didn’t work obviously because of the scoreline.

“We did that a lot last season. We would play really well one week in a back four, then change to a three and play well again and get another good result.

"We would win games doing it. I think we changed a lot last season and that was probably a big strength of ours. There’s no explanation for it for me at the minute. I can’t put my finger on it as to what it was and why it was. It just wasn’t good enough.”

Given the high standards that were set last season and the promise of the opening draw against Rangers, it was a shuddering display and defeat for Naismith’s boys.

Kent is aware past exploits count for nothing now and said: “Yeah, that’s it. We’ve spoken about it. There’s no getting away from that. We know what was needed and we didn’t do that on Saturday. We didn’t put up as much of a fight as we should have, which is probably the worst thing about it.

“There were individual mistakes, myself included, so we just need to put it right. Obviously there needs to be a reaction next time we play. I said last season that, with the start we had, it was a long season – which it is. Everything can turn round but we need to get it right and we’ll be working to do that.”