HEARTS head coach Ian Cathro is in no mind to change his approach to get back on track for a European spot.

The Jambos have won one of their last eight games and go into tonight’s game at St Johnstone two points behind their opponents in fifth place in the Ladbrokes Premiership.

Cathro knows the result is all that matters in Perth.

But he said: “There’s how you think you get those results, which is how you consider is the best way to win the game. The result is always the only thing that matters. What people have different views on is what’s the best way of getting that result.

“So what we consider is the best way for us to get results will be the way that we try to play.

“There’s nothing different in that – it’s not a case of you play some games to play well and play nice, and other games you play to win. That’s just the biggest lot of nonsense ever. We play every single game to go and win.

“The way that we choose to play the game is because of how we believe is the best way for us to win. They are not two separate things.

“If you’re on a winning run and everything’s good, OK now we can play differently, so we can play well and play nice and people can say nice things about us. That’s just nonsense, absolute nonsense.

“What we want to do is to win. We want to do it in a way that allows us to grow as a team and become more consistent and perform at a higher level and to progress.”

Hearts were in fourth spot when Cathro took over in December and the position should ensure a Europa League place if Hibernian do not retain the William Hill Scottish Cup.

“The opportunity for this club to be playing in Europe is a very important thing,” Cathro said. “The first step is for us to recover the position in the league which has probably been the minimum for this club historically.

“It was more or less the position the club was in after the first game I had arrived. It’s important we maintain that and we address that quickly. Where we set our objectives and targets, that can still be a little bit further down the line. It’s a very important game.”

St Johnstone will be without the suspended Richard Foster and Danny Swanson, who were sent off for clashing with each other at Hamilton. Cathro says he has seen similar incidents in his football career.

“In a closed-room environment, then I think everyone has,” Cathro said. “I would guess that it’s probably less regular now than what it was in years gone by but, as I keep getting reminded, I’m just 30 so maybe I’m not coming from the best position to comment on that.”