Hearts Head Coach Robbie Neilson has apologised to the Hearts support for what he has described as an ‘unacceptable’ performance from his Hearts team at Motherwell on Saturday. A lacklustre performance from the Gorgie men resulted in a 1-0 defeat from a revitalised Motherwell side and Neilson was offering no excuses after the game.
“We were poor” the Tynecastle chief told the media in his post-match interview. “We were nowhere near good enough and we need to be better than that; we came here and just didn’t perform.
“We gave away a bad goal but we had opportunities in the first half to take shots and put in crosses, but we just didn’t do it – and that’s the most frustrating thing.
“We spoke after the game, and at half-time, about how if you’re challenging for things then you have to perform all the time.
“But today Motherwell were the better team and we didn’t deserve to get anything out of the game. It’s not acceptable for us, we brought a huge crowd along and didn’t do enough to excite them. I have to apologise for the performance – it just wasn’t good enough”
Although Neilson refuses to rule out the possibility of a second place finish in the Ladbrokes SPFL Premiership until it’s mathematically impossible, the Head Coach has admitted it is an unlikely prospect.
“It looks like it is going to be difficult now. We have to keep striving and we have got Celtic next week but Saturday was a huge game and it just wasn’t good enough.”
Hearts have four league games left and while three of those are at Tynecastle – their remaining away fixture is at Aberdeen – the Maroons would need to win all four and hope the Dons slip up.
Despite Saturday’s performance, it has been a fine season for Hearts and invoked memories of when Hearts last won promotion to the top flight of Scottish football in 1983. In their first season back in the Premier Division (as it was called then) Hearts finished in fifth place – and qualified for the Uefa Cup.
Hearts will look to strengthen their squad in the weeks ahead. It’s fair to say it won’t be much of a close season at Tynecastle.
Author of The Team for Me - 50 Years of Following Hearts. Runs Mind Generating Success, a successful therapy practice in Edinburgh. Contact me if you want rid of any unwanted habits. Twitter @Mike1874
