Seeing Heart of Midlothian prop up the William Hill Premiership table in mid-September is a chilling experience for all concerned. A quite unacceptable run of results continued with Saturday’s 2-0 loss at Celtic Park. The visitors weren’t realistically expected to achieve much in Glasgow’s east end given the reigning champions’ 100 per cent record, but the optics of another defeat are simply not good.

Two contentious penalty decisions went in Celtic’s favour and had a major bearing on the game. Hearts’ improved performance from their last outing against Dundee United offered a positive, as did Beni Baningime’s return from injury and a late debut for substitute striker Musa Drammeh. The end result, another defeat, simply increases pressure. The next two games, away to St Mirren and home to Ross County, now become enormously important.

Hearts already face an almighty task to catch Aberdeen, who sit joint-top of the league with Celtic on 15 points. At the other end of the table, the Tynecastle side have one solitary point from five matches. There is time to turn the tide, regroup and revitalise, of course, but it needs to start now after a run of seven consecutive losses in all competitions.

“Celtic get you pinned in and the game becomes difficult. It was me and Kenneth [Vargas] trying to get hold of the ball and break up the pitch. From set-plays, we looked quite dangerous, had a couple of half-chances but couldn’t convert any.”

Hearts were awarded a first-half penalty when Shankland’s header struck the arm of Celtic defender Liam Scales inside the area. Referee Colin Steven changed his decision after visiting a touchline monitor to review the incident. In the second half, Steven again checked the screen after Nicholas Kuhn’s cross struck the arm of Hearts wing-back James Penrice. This time, the penalty was awarded.

“You can go in to the referee but he comes and looks at a telly, which should be his decision. It shouldn’t be who talks to him. There’s a decision to be made and if VAR have said they think he needs to review it, then he reviews it. That’s his decision and that’s fair enough. I don’t think it’s what anybody says on the pitch, it’s what he sees in front of him. It shouldn’t make a difference.”

Handball guidelines were altered during the summer to allow referees to interpret whether players at close range should be penalised for handling with no time to adjust their body. “I don’t think you’ll ever get clarity on it. In every situation, you can’t say: ‘That’s the exact same as that.’ I don’t think you will ever have a situation where our handball will be the exact same as theirs and we give one and don’t give the other,” said Shankland.

“It’s the referee’s decision and you need to accept it. He’s had a chance to look at both of them. The guy has looked at a screen like everybody else and he judged it to be a penalty, so there’s nothing you can do. The refs make those decisions. If they are wrong, or Willie Collum [Scottish FA head of refereeing] feels they are wrong, he will deal with it himself as he’s told us.”

The bigger picture for Hearts is that they need to drag themselves out of this slump having scored only two goals so far this term. “A win, just a win. We need to pull a win from somewhere,” observed Shankland. “It’s difficult to see it coming when you’re going through these times. Hopefully we can keep doing what we’re doing, put a performance on and get one win under our belts. Then we can build from there.

“I don’t think it’s ever been a question over commitment. It’s obviously a bad run, there’s no denying that. At times we haven’t been playing very well and it’s frustrating. The players are frustrated. We want to win games of football, we don’t turn up to get beat every week. It’s a bad spell and we all know that, but bad spells usually always come to an end. We just have to grind through it and hope that the win comes soon.”

Victory at Celtic Park last December inspired a terrific run of form which secured Hearts third place in the league as Shankland scored 31 goals at club level. Picking up three points now is the kind of spark required once again. “It can – probably not to the extent it did last year – but I can see us winning games of football eventually,” commented Shankland.

“No disrespect to anybody but I think we have a good enough team to win games in this league. The goals are an issue, not just for me but for everybody. We are not scoring goals as a team, which is never a good problem to have. That needs to change as well if we are going to win games. We are aware of everything that is wrong so there’s nothing that can’t be fixed.

“Of course. Mentally, football isn’t easy at the best of times but when you are going through a spell like this, it is tough to get out there. We just need to grind a win out from somewhere. There would be no better place to go and do it than St Mirren next week. I don’t imagine it will be an amazing game of football but if we can dig in there and get a result, hopefully that turns everything.

“If we get a win, people’s confidence will obviously lift. It’s been tough for the new boys coming in. Hearts is a big enough club at the best of times but when it’s not going too well it can be difficult. I feel for them a wee bit. Hopefully we can get a win soon and kick on from there.”