Robbie hopes Rudi stays with Hearts

Hearts defender Robbie Neilson believes Rudi Skacel will be a "massive loss" to the Scottish Cup winners when he leaves Tynecastle.

And, when he opened the scoring in the Tennent's Scottish Cup final against Gretna, he pulled off his Hearts shirt to reveal a t-shirt saying 'I will never forget. Thanks Jambos'.

After the game, which Hearts won 4-2 in a penalty shoot-out following a 1-1 draw in 120 minutes of open play, he confirmed his impending departure saying: "The t-shirt was because I wanted to say thank you to the supporters and it was probably me saying goodbye.

"I will take some time to make a decision but I probably won't stay at Hearts."

Neilson said: "He will be a massive loss if he goes. I don't know what his situation is but he's a great player and he scored a goal in the cup final for us so he would be a massive loss.

"Hopefully we can keep a hold of him because we need to keep our best players if we are going to challenge next year.

"I didn't see the message on his t-shirt but hopefully it doesn't turn out to be a goodbye message.

"But if it is, I'm sure that the Hearts fans will thank him for his efforts over the season.

"He has really kept this club going in the right direction and it will be a sad day if he goes."

Neilson, who scored the Gorgie side's second penalty in the shoot-out with impressive calmness, admits he fancies himself as the regular spot-kick taker.

Paul Hartley, whose late sending-off for a second yellow card denied him a chance to take part in the penalty drama, and Steven Pressley, who scored the Jambos' first spot-kick, are ahead of Neilson in the pecking order at Tynecastle.

But the Scotland Future player said: "I am a little bit of a frustrated penalty taker.

"I was right up for it. I was confident and was looking forward to it because it's not often you have the chance to score a penalty in a cup final.

"There was a lot of pressure but I felt confident in my ability to slot it away.

"But I felt confident that we would win when it went to penalties. We've got a strong mentality here.

"We've got quality players and one of the best keepers in Britain so you've got to fancy yourself in that situation."

Neilson had become a hero earlier in the game when his last-gasp tackle on Gretna substitute David Graham prevented a certain goal for the Borders club.

However, Neilson played down his part in what could have been a turning point in the game.

He said: "It was just one of those things that happens at the spur of the moment and I managed to get my tackle in.

"Craig Gordon did brilliantly to push him wide and slow him down a bit. I was worried that he might bring him down and it would have been a penalty and we would have had a man sent off. But I managed to get back in to make the challenge.

"It wasn't the performance that we expected and I think Gretna will feel very upset not to have won the cup.

"I thought they were fantastic at times, they dominated, they broke well with a lot of energy all over the park but we managed to hold our nerve right until the end."