Disappointed Lee Johnson reckons Ryan Porteous should have known better than to commit the "silly" foul that led to Hearts' opener at Easter Road. And the boss admits his side were punished by the "harsh realities" of cup football.
Hibs competed well for spells but couldn't match the quality of their rivals from Gorgie as Josh Ginnelly, Lawrence Shankland and Toby Sibbick made them pay. The opener came after a foul from Porteous allowed Robert Snodgrass to swing in a free-kick and Johnson was left bemused by the defender's decision-making. He said on Viaplay Sports: "It was a silly foul, we shouldn't have given it away. The centre-forward is facing away from goal and we don't defend the cross anywhere near well enough. From Ginnelly it was a good clinical finish.
"But we stayed on the front foot, we tried to penetrate as much as we could and I thought we could have delivered earlier than we did. Forwards need to know when the ball is coming in, sometimes we'd do a trick when there's no need for a trick, just set the ball aside and deliver early crosses. Make them defend, but we allowed them to settle in.
