Robbie Neilson described Hearts Betfred Cup defeat by St Johnstone as devastating.
Less than a week into the domestic season Hearts find themselves dumped out of two cups and a laughing stock as they attempt to defend Jamie Walker who was shown to the nation as a diver.
Despite securing promotion in a canter and a credible third placed finish last season a sizeable element of the Hearts support are unconvinced about Neilson’s ability to do the job.
After losing an early goal to Danny Swanson Hearts were ahead at the interval thanks to goals from Callum Paterson and Walker. St Johnstone weren’t to be denied however with former Jambos Swanson and Brad McKay earning the homeside a trip to Aberdeen in the next round.
“We are devastated to go out of the cup at this stage because we wanted to do well in the cups this season,” Neilson told The Evening News. “Everyone wants to progress in cups but we’ve had tough games. It’s been a while since we played a lower-league team, but we should have won this game.
“I felt we did enough, especially in the first 70 minutes. We were in control of the game after fighting back to go 2-1 up. We were in full control of the game with 20 minutes to go.
“Watt and Nicholson had given us a real spark when they came on and we looked like we were going to get more goals. At that point, I was feeling confident because we were playing well but then we fail to deal with a long ball from the goalkeeper by dropping too deep then not reacting to the knock-down, and they get a penalty.
“Then we didn’t deal with a corner. It’s not acceptable. We need to make sure we’re more aggressive in those areas.”
This afternoon Neilson will find out the outcome of Walker’s appeal against a two match suspension for diving against Celtic.