Ian Cathro has admitted he is finding the challenge of managing Hearts more difficult than he anticipated.

The head coach has won just four of the 15 games he has been in charge since taking over from Robbie Neilson in December and his side are currently on a run of five games without a victory.

Hamilton Academical visit Tynecastle on Saturday with Hearts clinging on to fourth spot, with St Johnstone just a point behind in fifth.

Asked by STV if he was finding it more difficult that expected, Cathro conceded: "There is nobody in the world who could sit in this chair in this moment, based on the run of results we've had, and say no to that.

"I'm one of them. Was my expectation for things to come this way? No, no it wasn't.

"There's an adjustment. I remember there was a period of adjusting even from working in the Spanish league to the English Premier League. I felt a big change then."

He continued: "That's two leagues everyone talks about as being top leagues in the world.

"There's a big difference in the mentality of the game, the mentality of the individual players. How a team reacts to push when it's 1-0 down. How it reacts to try and control a game when they're 1-0 up.

"Likewise even more so in this league. There's an adjustment to the situation no matter where it is, whether it's going up the way, to the side, or lower, however that is perceived."

Cathro added: "Part of the football here will always be the same. The fight, the early forward ball, the second ball, the intensity of that at different bits of the game.

"It will always be a factor, as will the fight and determination and the fight every team shows until the end of the game in this league.

"I wouldn't say it's something that's taken anybody by surprise. Could we have dealt with some of it better? Well we have to be honest enough and say of course. Because we understand where we are and we understand the aspects of our play, of our work and for sure, our results have to be better.

"There's a definite acceptance of those things from my part and I think of all of us. The full group. We are focused on knowing what those things are and making those improvements quickly."

Hearts' player turnover in January has been blamed for being a factor in the team's slump, with nine players coming in and six leaving.

"That's something that is a valid point," he admitted.

"It allows us to focus on that more because we've not had those positive results. It creates the sense it's a bigger problem than what it is.

"It's always a difficulty, whether things are going well or things aren't going well. It's time, spending time together on the pitch and building relationships inside the team is always an important thing."

He continued: "Do I think it was such a big factor in us having had poor results and a bad run? It will be one of the factors. But it's not an overbearing one.

"A lot of the times the games, and I think particularly in this league, the life the game takes can make it more difficult for us to dominate play the way we want to at times.

"For example, we've had situations where we've made an error or missed chances. The game goes on, there's some anxieties, some frustrations.

"It becomes more difficult in that situation in any league in the world, maybe more so here because you have every single team who fight, fight until the end of every game for every scrap, are happy to defend with ten men, will attack direct to strikers.

"It becomes difficult when those early moments in the game they've not went for you. Those are things we have analysed, we have looked at and are making some adjustments to."