We missed our chance, says Hearts boss

By BARRY ANDERSON
Published on Wednesday 2 May 2012 12:10

HEARTS manager Paulo Sergio bemoaned his team’s poor finishing following last night’s 1-0 defeat to Motherwell at Tynecastle and admitted they were punished for not taking chances in front of goal.

Michael Higdon struck the game’s only goal on 29 minutes after Jamie MacDonald parried a Jamie Murphy shot from outside the penalty area. Hearts proceeded to dominate the second half and exerted continual pressure on the Motherwell goal without managing to force an equaliser.

“Sometimes football is not about justice or injustice, simply taking chances,” said Sergio. “Motherwell had one and they scored, we had lots and we didn’t score. We didn’t have efficiency in our play.

“The only ball that went towards our goal, Jamie made a save and they scored from the second ball. We defended poorly at that moment. Murphy shouldn’t be shown inside but we made that mistake and they got a second ball to score and get three points. We had two or three chances in the first half and four in the second half.

“At the start of the game we passed the ball and found spaces and pressed well. After we lost the goal, I didn’t like it because we had a lack of desire. We spoke at half-time and we changed things. We were different in the second half. Motherwell defended well but we had clear chances to score.”

Meanwhile, Hearts have announced to supporters that the loyalty points threshold for the second phase of Scottish Cup final ticket sales has changed. Fans with eight loyalty points or more were entitled to apply for a ticket when sales begin tomorrow, but due to a notable increase in season ticket sales that cut-off point has been raised to 20 loyalty points.

A Hearts spokesperson said: “The recent surge in season tickets sales has meant the club has had to take a responsible view to the second phase of sales of Scottish Cup final tickets. This phase will begin on Thursday at 9am and fans with 20 loyalty points or over will be entitled to a ticket, subject to availability.

“As during the opening period of sales, tickets will again be available to those qualifying on a one-per-person basis. After the incredible scenes last Thursday at Tynecastle on the opening day of sales, we expect the ticket centre to be exceptionally busy once again.

“As such we would ask those fans who opt to attend in person to be patient and wait in an orderly queue as the ticket centre staff cope with the expected high volume of traffic.”

Taken from the Scotsman