Neil Critchley, Hearts’ head coach, admitted the 0-0 draw at Motherwell, which ended the club’s top six hopes, was disappointing and added: “We’ve not done enough to win the game.”
He said that, in the first-half Hearts, did not expect the opposition to play the way they did and the Englishman told Hearts TV: “They are normally more aggressive in the front end of the pitch.
“They sat in, waiting for us to make mistakes and counter, and we were far too slow and not forward enough in thinking enough on the ball.
“We still had a good chance. At half-time we changed and played with more momentum, quicker, and we created some good moments and good chances but, when we did that, we failed to find the target and make the goalkeeper work.
“Ultimately, that is what has costs us, last week and this week.”
He added: “We have had two bites at the cherry, last week and this week, and we have not got the job done and that is on us as a group. It is very hard to take right now but we have to accept that as a group we did not do well enough today (at Mothwerwell).
“Last week I felt that was different, but it is not about last week, it is about what happened today (at Motherwell) on the pitch. Even though we showed a better response and played better in the second-half, under normal circumstances, a point away from home and a clean sheet is satisfactory, but not today.
“When you get two opportunities to win a game and you don’t we have to deal with the consequences.”
PICTURE: Neil Critchley
Experienced news, business, arts, sport and travel journalist. Food critic and managing editor of a well-established food and travel website. Also a magazine editor of publications with circulations of up to 200,000 and managing director of a long-established PR/marketing company with a string of blue-chip clients in its CV. Former communications lecturer at a Scottish university and social media specialist for a string of successful and busy SMEs.
