Steve Lomas is going to follow the lead made by Hearts players and is going to ignore the financial situation the Tynecastle side face and only worry about the football. Hearts are heading to Perth today to take on St Johnstone on SPL duty still short of the share issue target of £1.7m. The players deferred their wages last month - which have since been paid - and fans have spent £800,000 since the share issue scheme was launched in October. Despite all the efforts, Hearts director Sergejus Fedotovas has warned of tough times ahead. Lomas believes all that turmoil will be "irrelevant" to the Jambos' players when the game begins. He said: "I don't think it will have an effect on them, they have been through it all before. Hearts players have played when they have had no wages, they have always been professional. The game is played on the pitch. Once you step over that white line everything is forgotten about. Everything else is irrelevant. You are there to do a job and they will want to prove a point, they will be wanting to win a game of football. So it is going to be tough. They are a side jam-packed with good players like Ryan McGowan and John Sutton so we will have to work hard and play well to get something from the game." Lomas has enough of his own worri4es before spending time on other clubs concerns. Saints face an injury crisis in defence and David McCracken will be asked if he is ready to return early from his fractured cheekbone. Defenders Steven Anderson, Frazer Wright and skipper Dave Mackay are suspended while midfielder Chris Millar is also banned after being shown the red cardin the 1-1 draw against St Mirren last week. McCracken was expected to be out for six weeks after picking up the injury which required surgery when he cracked heads with Celtic midfielder Victor Wanyama during the 1-1 draw at Parkhead on 11 November. Lomas, though, is heartened by the character his side showed last week in battling for a draw against The Buddies. The former Manchester City and West Ham midfielder said: "It won't be a makeshift side. It is now down to boys to come in and show what they can do. That is a challenge for all the players. It is an opportunity for players and if they come in and play well then they keep the shirt. Last week the players showed me what I knew already, they have great character. We played 20 minutes with nine men so away from home that has got to be a great point and you have to be satisfied with that. As I said before on numerous occasions they are an honest bunch, they have shown it from day one and the players who came in during the summer have been the same."
Source: ScottishFitba
Source: FOOTYMAD
