Hearts try to take positives and regroup ahead of vital week for team
The Jambos’ players sank to the turf in anguish and disbelief when referee John Beaton blew for full time to confirm their 2-1 defeat at Ibrox. Having led for the best part of 85 minutes through Lawrence Shankland’s header, James Tavernier’s penalty and a stoppage-time header from Danilo pipped the visitors’ pockets. While their performance against Rangers was a massive improvement on the previous defeat, a one-sided 4-1 thumping by Celtic, the mental scars are likely to run deeper.
Alex Cochrane, who set up Shankland for the opener with an excellent cross from his weaker right foot, is aware there is no time for moping. They play Rangers again on Sunday in the Viaplay Cup semi-final at Hampden but before that, a pivotal Premiership match takes place at Tynecastle against Livingston. Hearts dropped down to seventh place in a congested league table following the weekend results and while the Hearts support are likely to tolerate a defeat at Ibrox, nothing but three points will do against a Livi outfit that is also finding wins hard to come by.
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Hide Ad"It was very difficult to take,” said Cochrane of the Rangers defeat. “For 90 minutes or so the gameplan worked perfectly, but football is longer than 90 minutes now. Obviously, the penalty happened - I haven't seen it back so I don't know if it was a penalty or not – but we had to see the game out for the nine minutes of injury time. We have to pick ourselves up and go and play Livi now because that's a massive game for us. Three points is massive on Wednesday.”
Hearts have struggled to hit their stride this season. The early-season European exertions can be pointed to as an excuse but the reality for manager Steven Naismith and his players is that results need to improve. The fanbase has grumbled all season and just at the point of amplification, the team has posted a big result. Naismith changed his formation from a 4-2-3-1 to 3-5-2 against Rangers and Hearts’ first-half display was promising. They stayed compact, competitive and made good use of the ball. Dropping too deep in the second period under increased pressure from the hosts, they were unable to exert any kind of authority. Hearts will have far more of the ball on Wednesday but what will be intriguing is to see whether Naismith sticks with a back three or reverts to more tried-and-trusted four.
Regardless, Cochrane knows there are foundations to build upon ahead of a key week. "There were plenty of positives to take because we were 1-0 up at Ibrox for 90 minutes and I thought we defended well,” continued the defender. “We also broke them too and had a few chances. There are definitely positives and we have to pick ourselves and focus on Livingston. But the game is finished now and we have to learn from that five minute spell because it has cost us three points. When we conceded that penalty, the worst thing that should have happened was that we took a point back and moved on. We should have regrouped and tried to hang on but it wasn’t to be."