Robbie Neilson paid tribute to the near-4000 Hearts fans who made the Friday night trip to Hamilton for a Scottish Cup clash - and admitted they deserved a more entertaining display.
The Tynecastle boss was thrilled to get through and with some aspects of the performance in the 2-0 win in Lanarkshire. But he wasn’t so pleased with his men taking their foot off the gas in the second half. Stephen Humphrys and Cammy Devlin sealed their place in Monday’s draw for the quarter finals and boss Neilson said: “We started really well, controlled the first half and got a goal but not getting a second goal puts you under pressure.
“In the second half we were slack and there was a wee period where we started overplaying. I just thought in the second half we huffed and puffed and that final moment wasn’t there. To Hamilton’s credit, they put us under pressure but they never really created massive amounts. It’s about getting through in the cup but you still want to put a performance on. We brought 4,000 fans through here on a cold rainy February night and you want to entertain them. At times we did, at times we didn’t.”
Hearts are going for their fourth Scottish Cup final in the last five years and their manager is adamant that they must keep aiming high. He added: “This is where we’ve got to be.
"At Hearts you’re expected to get to the latter stages of the cup and now we can relax for the weekend and see the draw on Monday night. Hopefully we can get a home game at Tynecastle.”
Neilson praised on-loan striker Humphrys for following his wonder goal at the weekend with the opener last night. He said: “Stephen’s a finisher.
"He gets into the box and can shift it with his left and right foot. That’s another goal under his belt tonight, there’s a lot of stuff to polish up with him but he’s definitely a threat, that’s for sure – and they all don’t need to be from 60 yards!
“It was also good to see Cammy back, he did well to get a tackle and the goal. He’s been out for a wee while and brings a bit of energy to us.
“We’ve got a squad here and the guys who started did well but the boys who came on gave us that extra energy but the same quality. Oda and Atkinson, who has not played for a while, did really well.”
