Post mortem will keep our cup hopes alive

PAUL KIDDIE

HEARTS may be yearning to rekindle their love affair with the Tennent’s Scottish Cup but they can kiss goodbye to their dream if they produce another performance like the one at Fir Park, midfielder Paul Hartley warned today.

The Jambos returned to training this week to begin the post-mortem into what went wrong against Motherwell on Saturday and the Gorgie star insists the players will come up with the answers after what boss John Robertson described as the worst display of his reign.

Expectations had been high following the impressive nature of Hearts’ victory over Kilmarnock in Ayrshire in a fourth-round replay just days earlier. However, the team misfired spectacularly with Craig Gordon the only player to do himself justice as the hosts cruised to a 2-0 victory.

With a quarter- final showdown looming at Tynecastle on Sunday against SPL strugglers Livingston, the 1998 cup winners are desperate to prove the Lanarkshire setback was just a blip in what has otherwise been an impressive 2005 - the defeat their first in the league this year.

"We just didn’t perform and weren’t good enough on the day," said Hartley.

"They outplayed us. I’m not sure what it is when we play Motherwell but that’s the fourth time they have beaten us this season and we can’t put our finger on it. But what is for sure is that we have to get back on track quickly."

The club’s top scorer this season with 13 strikes from midfield has been a key contributor for Hearts in what has been a hectic opening to the new year, but he won’t listen to anyone suggesting Saturday’s performance was as a result of the squad failing to cope with too many games.

He said: "We played superbly in the cup replay at Kilmarnock but Saturday’s performance wasn’t acceptable. If we do that this weekend then we will be out of the cup. We will have to work on what went wrong in training this week.

"Too many games is not an excuse. We have had a busy few weeks but we can’t put that forward as a reason for the manner of our defeat at Fir Park. We had a good travelling support and we let them down badly. We just couldn’t get started which was hugely disappointing."

The reverse allowed third-placed Hibs to stretch their advantage to six points but that will be of no concern come kick-off time against Richard Gough’s relegation-haunted side, as Hartley pointed out.

"We have slipped back to six points behind Hibs but we are not really concerned about that at the moment," he said. "Our priority is the Scottish Cup meeting with Livingston and the chance we now have to progress to the semi-finals.

"It was our first league defeat of the year and the manner in which we went down was hard to take. We must ensure it doesn’t happen again and I am confident it won’t."

Robertson and his assistant Donald Park will go over the games at Killie and Motherwell with the team to compare the displays. And while the management due believe it important to highlight where things went wrong on Saturday, Robertson doesn’t want to dwell too long on the "embarrassing" 90 minutes against Terry Butcher’s outfit as he turns his energies to securing another semi-final outing for the club.

"Fir Park was just one of those days unfortunately and it was particularly annoying when we had been playing so well in the games leading up to it," he said. "I said I was embarrassed by it and we just didn’t get going. But we have to put that aside and focus on the Livingston cup tie now.

"The match will take care of itself and it’s a chance for us to reach our second semi-final of the season. Despite having the advantage of being at home, it will be another tough match as the incentive is there for both teams.

"We will watch the video of both the Kilmarnock and the Motherwell matches and discuss with the players what they did well at Rugby Park and what they didn’t do well at Fir Park.

"We won’t be dwelling on it too long, though, as it is important to be as positive as we can as we look forward to the weekend.

"The players know they didn’t perform as well as they could have but the vital thing for us is we have a quarter-final coming up and we will all be doing our best to get through to the semis. This is another massive game for the club and it would be great if we could get through to the last four of the Scottish Cup with a good performance.

"At the end of the day it is the result which matters and getting through the tie is the aim for both sides - and if we can achieve that with a good display then all the better."

Taken from the Scotsman