Football - Rangers v Celtic Scottish FA Cup Fifth Round - Ibrox Stadium - 10/11 - 6/2/11 Celtic's Fraser Forster fouls Rangers Steven Naismith for a penalty kick and is sent off Mandatory Credit: Action Images / Jason Cairnduff Livepic
To the surprise of absolutely no-one Hearts lost 2-0 at Hampden today in the semi-final of the Scottish Cup.
Today’s match went much the same way as the November League Cup semi-final with Steven Naismith’s side looking passive and uninterested against opponents there for the taking.
Ross County and Dundee provided Hearts with a blueprint of how to get at, upset and take points from Philippe Clement’s side but if the Belgian could have hand picked an opponent to face today it would have been the side from Gorgie.
??’It’s a missed opportunity’
Hearts boss Steven Naismith after his side lost 2-0 to Rangers in the Scottish Cup semi-final ??#BBCFootball #ScottishCup pic.twitter.com/8u7szjj1Jx
— BBC Sport Scotland (@BBCSportScot) April 21, 2024
Naismith has picked up on Robbie Neilson’s abysmal record against the Ibrox side, whenever they require a boost it usually comes from a match against Scotland’s third best side.
While being relegated from the Premiership at the end of the 2019/20 season Daniel Stendel managed a Scottish Cup win and SPFL victory over Steven Gerrard over five weeks, there hasn’t been any since the German left Tynecastle.
Hearts are virtually assured of third place in the SPFL Premiership and European group stage football this season, they will conclude their SPFL programme by hosting their friends from Ibrox on May 18, a week before the final of the Scottish Cup.
Hearts record against Rangers since Covid is nothing short of abysmal, considering all of these fixtures have been 2nd vs 3rd/4th.
P14 W0 D2 L12 GF6 GA36
Hearts haven’t even managed a goal in nine of those fixtures
For whatever reason, they just can’t play against Rangers.
— Inside The SPFL (@AgentScotland) April 21, 2024
19.5K at Hampden…
Club, players and management have let the fans down again…
The fans deserve more. The mini hun/diet hun rhetoric will haunt us until we turn up for the games that matter…
?
— Classic Heart of Midlothian FC Goals (@HeartsGoals) April 21, 2024
Mini hunnies were a shocker today-total embarrassment!
Yesterday the Dons were superb and they most certainly turned up, and so they should with what’s at stake..
Hopefully those fans who forked out a lot of Lunny to get there today will kick that hun loving Prk to the kerb…shearts were pathetic!!
They (Hearts fans)got to Hampden by bus,Train,and Whatever,today what a waste of time and money,if they had asked me beforehand,I would have put them right,we Naisy has a bad record against his favourite team,and it.ain’t going to change anytime soon,owe if it’s Celtic it’s different entirely……………
As they are known in our house….HUNS WITHOOT THE BUS FARE.
It’s a fkn cup semi final. Why not go all out, it’s either win or lose. Don’t need to play for a point of fear losing and going lower in the league. Aberdeen brought their A game. All or nothing and fair play to them.
That grovelling lick spittle Naismith put his love of rankers (again), before his responsibility to his team and supporters. Totally pathetic. And it was so obvious. Totally pedestrian approach to a cup tie with a final and potential silverware at stake.
Just remember if you’re a Hearts fan, your manager will play as best capable against every team in the league, except rankers. Always and forever. A corrupt little prk
As they are known in our house….HUNS WITHOOT THE BUS FARE.
150 years old (Hearts) and they haven’t beaten The late dead ‘Rangers’ nor their replacement Sevco EVER at Hampden…
What on earth must their supporters think at all about that disgusting statistic !
The charisma vacuum that is “Naisy” will soon be either pursuing a career in punditry on the Sportscene couch or taking up coaching roles in far-flung parts of the world when his fan-owned club give him the Robbie Neilson treatment, who got the boot after one meek surrender too many to Sevco – and his coaching career is currently about as lively as the 2024 Third Lanark player of the year dinner-dance.
I didn’t watch yesterday because it was a foregone conclusion. On the positive side, it’s a better Final for us, Hearts would have been tougher to play against.