Hearts’ goalkeeper Jamie Macdonald has apologised to supporters following the seven goal defeat to Celtic at Tynecastle on Sunday. The result was Hearts’ worst home defeat for over 40 years, and Macdonald made a statement on the club website.
He said: “That was as difficult a game as I’ve ever been involved in. I’d just like to apologise to the fans for what happened. It was an embarrassment. We are disappointed for ourselves and for the fans.
“It was a bad day at the office for us and this is probably the most difficult time I’ve had in football. We didn’t do ourselves any favours at the first couple of goals.
“Losing an early goal is the cardinal sin against Celtic. You try to get to 15 minutes and contain them. To be honest, you have to give Celtic a lot of credit. They were phenomenal. If they played like that against anyone they’d have given them a doing.
“We need to bounce back now. That’s the most important thing and we even said that at half-time. We knew we were out of the Scottish Cup but the big thing was to see what the boys were made of and how they would all react.
“You learn a lot about players in these games and we did improve in the second half. We kept our shape better. But it was still one-way traffic and Celtic were fantastic on the day. But the boys have to remember how they feel after this game and make sure they never feel like it again.
“It was a harsh lesson for all the players and especially the young ones but that’s going to happen. It’s character building and it’s now about how we bounce back from this defeat as a team. We’ve had a few losses this season already but today’s result was a different kettle of fish.
“The boys need to take it on board, learn from the mistakes we made and look at how Celtic played – and maybe take something from that. Hopefully we are much improved in the next game.”
John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.
