Levein left to pick up pieces of dire display

THE romance of the cup? Hearts boss Craig Levein will take some convincing about such a sentiment as he sifts unhappily through the ruins of the Jambos’ Tennent’s Scottish Cup defeat by Inverness Caley Thistle.
DISBELIEF: Stephen Simmons is stunned as Hearts go 3-1 down.

DISBELIEF: Stephen Simmons is stunned as Hearts go 3-1 down.

The Gorgie chief will spend the first part of this week analysing just what went wrong in the fourth-round meeting on Saturday after his side was dumped out of the competition by the First Division shock troops.

But just where does he start? This was no fluke result, Thistle fully deserving to book their passage into the last eight as a lethargic and totally out-of-sorts Hearts team was out-thought and out-fought by opponents who have rightly earned a reputation as a dangerous cup side.

Who can forget the humiliation they dished out to Glasgow giants Celtic two years ago, Steve Paterson’s players embarrassing the millionaires of Parkhead with a stunning 3-1 triumph?

For that reason alone on Saturday, Hearts should have been wary of the threat posed by Inverness on such occasions.

Yet they still allowed themselves to come off second best as their 20-year unbeaten Scottish Cup run at Tynecastle came shuddering to a halt.

There had been a quiet confidence within Tynecastle that with a bit of luck in the draw the Jambos could perhaps go all the way in this year’s tournament.

Levein had, after all, lifted his side into the top six in the SPL on the back of an encouraging run of results.

And, despite going into the fourth-round meeting on the back of two defeats against Livingston and Celtic, the displays on both those occasions were worthy of at least some reward.

However, Hearts got exactly what they deserved on Saturday - nothing.

Aspirations of running out at Hampden Park on Saturday May 4 proved to be nothing more than a pipe dream as Paterson’s men made a mockery of their 7-1 pre-match odds to write another thrilling chapter in their Scottish Cup fairytale.

"I’m not saying we didn’t work hard but sometimes you have to go that little bit extra to grind out a result," said Levein.

"The players had been getting a lot of praise, and rightly so, for working for each other and collectively taking responsibility in recent matches. But I felt on Saturday it wasn’t just one thing which went wrong.

"The strikers didn’t do as well as they had been doing and didn’t hold the ball up well.

"We didn’t prevent Inverness passing the ball as we should have done and we were second to most balls in the middle of the park. We also defended poorly and when you take all these things into consideration there’s not much chance of getting a result."

The absence of skipper Steven Pressley clearly had an unsettling effect on the team and with Kevin McKenna still on international duty, it proved a handicap too severe to overcome. The skipper’s experience and organisation at the back is sorely missed by Hearts - he has now missed four games this season, the Jambos losing three of them.

The centre-half was ruled out with a stomach bug but fans were still entitled to expect a much better offering from his team-mates.

Levein opted to recall Austin McCann into a five-man midfield, with Stephane Mahe being forced into an unfamiliar role as part of a three-man back line.

And how the former Celtic star must wish he had never come across the name Inverness Caley Thistle. Having been in the Parkhead side humbled two years ago, Saturday’s demise chalked up an unwanted double for the Frenchman.

It was a mistake by McCann, though, which set the visitors on the road to glory. Paul Ritchie’s deep cross from the left looked like meat and drink for the defender until he decided to let it fall behind him, clearly not realising the presence of Ross Tokely.

The former Hearts trialist did not need a second invite to latch on to the ball and send it flashing past Antti Niemi for the opening goal. The hosts managed to battle their way back into the tie on the stroke of half-time, Gary Wales netting from close range after Nicky Walker had parried Tommi Gronlund’s shot from the edge of the area.

That should have set the scene for a rejuvenated Hearts performance after the break but still they could not get out of second gear. With the threat of Ricardo Fuller snuffed out by the visitors and the midfield outgunned, Hearts struggled to get the better of the Highlanders.

Dennis Wyness turned Mahe on the edge of the penalty box before clipping a left-foot shot into the right-hand corner of the Finn’s net to put his side 2-1 ahead.

Walker then did well to save at the feet of Stephen Simmons, who had replaced the struggling McCann at half-time, but two minutes later the huge travelling support - some 3000 fans had made the trip to the Capital to witness another giant-killing act - was in raptures as Caley incredibly stretched their advantage.

David Bagan made the most of a breakaway to outpace Gronlund and keep his cool before placing his shot behind Niemi.

There were still 16 minutes left to play but the Gorgie faithful knew then that their Scottish Cup run had ended for another season and Caley almost made it four at the death as Barry Robson sent a shot wide.

Levein added: "After getting back level I expected us to press home the advantage. But we defended poorly for all the goals and they thoroughly deserved their win. In no way am I going to gripe about the result."

Paterson confessed to being surprised at the slow start from the home side, indicating it had played straight into Caley’s hands.

"I thought Hearts started slowly and passed it around during the first 15-20 minutes which is a crucial period for the underdogs in games like these," he said.

"That allowed us to play our way into the game and the sheer tenacity we showed merited the win, which has to be up there with the victory over Celtic. Hearts maybe had the bulk of possession in the second half but didn’t create any clear chances."

Saturday’s exit will have been a huge disappointment for chief executive Chris Robinson, with the Tynecastle board no doubt hoping for an extended cup run to help bring in some much-needed cash to the club.

Depressingly, too, for his manager, there were few crumbs of comfort to be salvaged from the match. Levein’s job now is to pick his players up for the tricky weekend trip to Dunfermline and try to ensure that the hangover from Saturday does not have a lasting effect on their league season.

Taken from the Scotsman