Quotes from the Post Match media conference in the Tynecastle Park press room.

 

“It is a really sore one for my players and the club tonight.

“We came here to win, we came here to get the club into a semi-final and I thought we were good enough in the game to manage to do just that.

“We have all been here before and seen enough games where you are never there until you are there. I think we should keep the ball better in the bottom corner and make sure that Hearts did not counter on us.”

The Equaliser

“I thought Keena handballed it in the build up when we laid it out to Mulraney. That was my thoughts at the time and I have seen it again and he has controlled the ball with his arm.

“But that said we still have one more cross to defend and one more header to win – and unfortunately despite winning a lot of headers all night – especially from the straight ball from Berra, I thought for the majority of the game my centre halves stood up to that and won their first header until the equaliser.

“The cross, could we have done a bit more to stop it? Can we do a bit more to stop the ball being there in the first place? And can we go and win one more header because we were almost there.

“I thought we were good value to win the game until that moment.”

The first half

“I thought after a nervous start in the first few minutes when Hearts came out of the traps and hit the post, we did well. Once we got a grip we settled down with McLennan and Hedges playing as attacking midfielders. It is not natural to them playing that role but I thought they did well and I thought Ferguson and Campbell nullified the central area. I thought we had a bit of control in the game.

“The trade off with McLennan and Hedges playing in there is the fact they can break from those areas and burst forward. They did that well, none more so than when we win the penalties for the goals.

“I thought we were good value at half time.

“I thought we were good value for the 2-1 lead up until the equalising goal.”

Extra time and penalties

“I just felt an inevitability about the extra time (not producing any goals), it looked like it was two teams who had slugged it out and both looked dead on their feet.

“Going into the penalty shoot out I thought we have the best keeper in the league and I have got good penalty takers. Unfortunately it has not played out that way and Hearts took their penalties well and that is why they are in the semi-finals.”

Sam

“It is unusual to take three penalties in a game. For Sam he put away his first two well but he was maybe a bit undecided because I have never seen Sam being as lose with a penalty like that. There is no more blame on the boys that missed. We are all responsible, we all had a chance to win the game. When it comes down to penalties they are not any more responsible that anyone else.

“I thought Cosgrove was magnificent, in that first half in particular. He led the line brilliantly.”

Cup Football

“We are one of the teams that don’t shy away from saying that the cups are there to be won.

“It is making sure we have a team that is capable of doing exactly that and meeting the demand.

“I felt as though the squad we have put together is capable of doing that.

“It is up to us to try and make our own history with this new squad and make our way. I was enthused with the squad that we put together.

“At the moment we are trying to manage a situation where we have so many injuries in that central area. It does not help matters when Wilson has to go off, McLennan has to go off and then young Campbell has to go off. Ferguson was the only natural midfielder out there and he was an absolute rock tonight. He was doing absolutely everything.

“Despite the injuries I thought it was positive performance.”

Effort

“As I say I thought the performance was good.

“It is very disappointing because we came here to win and we were good enough to win. But they put Halkett up the last five minutes and they get their reward for it. if they don’t do that then we are probably in a semi-final. They throw caution to the wind and it has paid off for them.

“We have put a team together that had players who were maybe not in natural positions for some but everyone put so much into the game.

“We were so close to getting through but now we have to sit and watch the semi-finals rather than taking part this year.”