St Johnstone manager Steve Lomas believes his absence from the Tynecastle dugout will not be a problem for his players.
The Perth boss has been handed a one-game touchline ban by the SFA for what he himself admits was an ”offensive gesture” made at Ibrox as Saints battled to a draw against Rangers in his first game in charge of the club.
He insisted the action wasn’t aimed at anyone but the punishment will nevertheless be taken on the chin by the Northern Irishman and he will serve it on Saturday when they travel to face Hearts.
His assistant Tommy Wright will be the one to dish out the instructions to the team from the sidelines and Lomas will sit in the stand along with Jam Tarts gaffer Paulo Sergio, who is in the throes of a five-game suspension.
”I thought it was something about nothing,” said Lomas regarding his offence. ”It was an offensive gesture that was directed at nobody. I am a bit disappointed about it. I didn’t think it merited something like that but, hey, ho. It is done now so we accept it and move on.
”Tommy will be in the dugout instead of me and he is more than capable of working things from the sidelines. Also, the players are professionals and will just get on with their jobs.
”It is not ideal but once the whistle goes it is not about the managers, it is about the players. I have never seen a manager win a game without his players’ help.”
Lomas revealed he was pretty close to joining Hearts in 2005 when then boss George Burley and his side were taking the SPL by storm.
”I nearly signed for Hearts so I know all about the club,” he recalled. ”A deal was close when George Burley was the manager but there were things going on in the background that I obviously wasn’t aware of (Burley was sacked with the team sitting top of the SPL).
”They had a bunch of good players at the time like Paul Hartley in the middle of the park, big Elvis (Steven Pressley) at the back and Rudi Skacel had just joined. The move just never materialised and I ended up at Queens Park Rangers.
”There were similarities between the clubs, with Loftus Road a lot like Tynecastle in that the fans are right on top of you.
”Hopefully, we will go there and silence the home fans on Saturday. We know it is going to be difficult but if our lads show the same application they have done in the last two games we won’t be far away.
”Hearts got a fine result last week (they beat Inverness Caley Thistle 2-1) so this will be a meeting between two teams who are confident. They will want to make up ground on us while we want to kick on and keep the run going.
”It has the makings of a great match. Our lads shouldn’t go with any fear but we should not be over-confident either. We can take heart from going to places like Celtic Park and Motherwell and getting results so we are looking forward to it.”
Saints playmaker Jody Morris is rated only 50-50 to make the Tynecastle trip, with Lomas saying: ”Jody is still touch and go. We are planning without him but if he makes it then that will be great.”
Cillian Sheridan will miss out after tearing his hamstring in Saints’ 3-1 win over Hibs. His place in attack is likely to be taken by Marcus Haber.