Hearts 3-0 Partick: Neilson sees room for improvement

Sam Nicholson scored Hearts' second against Partick Thistle

Head coach Robbie Neilson says Hearts still have "a bit to go" as they maintained their place at the top of the Premiership with another fine win.

Goals from Osman Sow, Sam Nicholson and Juanma Delgado gave Neilson's men a 3-0 win over Partick Thistle - a fifth win from five in the league.

"We've still got quite a few guys to get back," explained Neilson.

"To keep a clean sheet is great. The forward players worked really hard as well. To get three goals was great."

Nicholson's goal was a rebound after Juanma's penalty had been saved and Neilson said: "We're still missing penalties.

"It started from last season, we missed a few. This season we've managed to score two but we're also missing as well so it's something we need to try and get on top of.

"We're trying to get ourselves through to the international break. We can get the guys that are struggling and still playing patched up and then the other guys coming back.

"Once we get through to the international break, we can then start to really push on and hopefully continue our good form.

"We're still miles away from being title contenders. We are, let's be honest. We're only a few games into the season. We've still got a long way to go.

"We're taking day-by-day, game-by-game and that's what we'll do for the whole season no matter where we are, whether we're sitting at the top of the league or whether we're sitting mid-table."

Asked about possible transfer activity before the end of the month, Neilson replied: "The squad's settled at the moment but as in football you just never know what's going to happen.

"The only bid we've had in for a player is Jordan McGhee [from Ipswich] and it wasn't acceptable, the level we wanted. There might be bids in for the other guys because they're all playing fantastically well and we just need to deal with it from there."

Alan Archibald felt Partick Thistle failed to capitalise on a bright start

Manager Alan Archibald was "very disappointed" Partick Thistle had not built on a decent opening spell at Tynecastle.

"We started brightly and after that we lost our way," he lamented. "The [Sow] goal was a real set-back, losing it from a set play.

"Our key players didn't get on the ball and play for us. We didn't create enough."

Archibald was also quizzed about expanding his squad and responded: "We're trying to, obviously it's very, very tight but we'll look to get one or two in."