John McGlynn able to look on bright side despite just one win in five WITH only one defeat but also just one victory in their first five fixtures, Hearts have had a modest but solid start to the season. Optimists among the Tyne­castle support could point to the team's performance in their Europa League tie with Liverpool as proof that they are heading in the right direction under John McGlynn. Pessimists might focus instead on their shortcomings up front. McGlynn himself, unsurprisingly, takes the former view. He knows that his squad is short of strikers but is confident the return of Ryan Stevenson will help compensate for that. And, more generally, he believes his team are close to getting everything right and putting a decent run of results together. "We're not far away," said the manager, who takes his team to St Mirren tomorrow. You could take about two and a half minutes of our season and it could be so different. If we didn't lose a goal two minutes into the game against Dundee [a 1-0 loss], and if we had managed to survive against Inverness for 30 seconds or so [instead of conceding a late equaliser in a 2-2 draw]. For two and a half minutes we could have had five more points. Of course, you could take the old phrase "if your granny had. . ." and all the rest of it. But we were very close in these situations. We should have survived against Inverness and, if we had not lost an early goal against Dundee, it could have been so different. Both in that game against Dundee and the previous week against Aberdeen, a win could have taken Hearts to the top of the league. They came desperately close to achieving it at Pittodrie, with Andrew Driver hitting the post in the last minute after the home team had carved out chance after chance. And, as McGlynn argued, had they equalised against Dundee they may well have gone on to win. In the event, while Hearts were losing to Dundee, Motherwell were going top thanks to a convincing 4-1 victory at Fir Park against Inverness. But McGlynn takes encouragement from the fact that his team even had those chances to go top, especially given the number of young, inexperienced players who have broken through into the first team this season. There are a lot of positives to take. We've played a number of younger players and they've gained a lot of experience. Some have been given their debuts. Considering we're in a big transition, having lost key players from the cup final and it's been difficult to replace them, I think we're doing okay. McGlynn knows that "doing okay" might be an acceptable verdict for a club who are sitting seventh after that first handful of games but he is well aware that expectations will rise as the season goes on. Presuming Hearts do not sign a striker as a free agent some time over the coming months, it will be up to Stevenson, above all, to meet those expectations. "From the minute we came in it would have been nice to have another striker to give us some more options up front," said McGlynn. It's not materialised. There are still players out there who are free agents. It's not to say something can't be done or won't be done. So I wouldn't say that will not happen. But we've tried a number of players now and with Ryan Stevenson coming in it gives us one or two options. He's maybe not an out-and-out striker but he's an attacking midfielder who, wherever he's played, has managed to get goals, so we're looking for him to help us in that manner. We have a fairly solid back four. Three of those boys were involved in international football this week. Ryan McGowan didn't play for Australia, but Marius Zaliukas and Webby [Andy Webster] played both games, so we have vast experience in there. With Danny Grainger and young Kevin McHattie, we are well equipped in defence. Across the middle of the park we have a lot of options and we have wide players. It's just a matter of clicking through the middle. "It's hard on John Sutton," continued McGlynn, referring to the Englishman, who is the squad's only recognised striker, and has scored twice from penalties so far but saw his last spot-kick saved by Dundee goalkeeper Rab Douglas. There's a lot of pressure placed on him and he has had to work extremely hard up there. We still get a lot of bodies in the box. It's just that wee bit in front of goal really. I'm working with the players I've got. I've got to get by without Rudi Skacel, without Ian Black, without Stephen Elliott, without Craig Beattie, without Suso. But at least, as everyone came back fit from the international break and none of the players who remained at Riccarton picked up fresh injuries, the manager has a full squad to choose from for tomorrow's game. Later in the season, once suspensions and injuries start to mount up, the size and relative inexperience of his squad will become more significant. But for the time being McGlynn can put out his first-choice XI. That's a massive plus, because you always fear [injuries] as a manager who has players on international duty. Especially when you don't have a massive squad and when it was our two centre backs, Webster and Zaliukas, who were away. They are big, big players for us and are our experience in the team.