Alex Cochrane lifts the lid on substitution fiasco and insists Hearts players 'never thought third place was done and dusted'

"That's something I've never seen before. It summed up our day, I think. My number did go up. They meant to put 29 up [for Stephen Humphrys] but [my number] 19 actually went up. I was oblivious to it all, just walking off the pitch, and then I heard Shanks [Lawrence Shankland] call my name to go back on. It's something I've never seen in football before!”

He said he had been given pelters by his team-mates but he was not the only one chagrined by the afternoon’s events. Turning in a performance that dipped well below the expected, and accepted, standards, the Gorgie outfit suffered only their second defeat in 14 matches.

"It wasn't the best performance from us, we know that, and we spoke about it. We need to win these games if we want to stay in third position so we have to dust ourselves down and go again. We've got next weekend off, then we've got a big game against St Johnstone, then Celtic back-to-back [in the league and then the Scottish Cup quarter-final]. There are big games coming up for us.”

Now with just five points separating them from derby rivals Hibs, who have hit a good run of form, they have offered the chasing pack some encouragement.

Cochrane said that was an unfortunate consequence of Sunday’s result but he refuted the idea that it would serve as a wake-up call, insisting no jolt was necessary as the squad already knew they were in a battle for position.

"We’ve never thought third place was done and dusted. There are still plenty of games to go. Yes, it's five points, it’s a gap, but we need to make sure we keep that gap. We've got big games coming up so we need to make sure we are right at it.

“But, we've been on a good run and this was an off day. We can't have any more of them. It wasn't our best performance and everyone in the dressing room knows that.”

With no game this coming weekend, due to Celtic’s involvement in the Viaplay Cup final, the Hearts players will have a few days off but Cochrane claims they will be chomping at the bit to get back into action and, hopefully, produce a display and result that will wash the Motherwell loss from their minds.

“We want to put this game to bed and bounce back as quickly as possible. We have a two-week break now so we have to train hard and be right at it when St Johnstone come to Tynecastle.

“It's obviously a chance to recharge the batteries and go again. It's a good chance to see where we are and put in the work on the training pitch. We’ll speak about this game but as soon as that's done then we need to move on quickly. Hopefully the rest takes care of itself.”

A message from the Editor

Thank you for reading this article. If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.