HEARTS BYPASS
Neilson: Cup Final defeat will make us stronger next time we get to national stadium
ROBBIE NEILSON insists Hearts will reach another Scottish Cup Final and that they’ll be better in it after Sunday’s heartbreak.
The Jambos were two successful penalties away from ending Celtic’s relentless trophy run at Hampden.
Despite falling short in the shootout, Neilson is adamant the experience will stand them in good stead when they return to the biggest stage.
Before the Jambos ended a 36-year trophy drought under Jim Jefferies in 1998, they’d twice lost finals to Rangers before making it third time lucky.
And while Neilson will want to avoid falling at the last hurdle again, he believes getting to that stage as regularly as possible can only help in the hunt for honours.
He said: “People talk about when you go into Europe as well but it’s also in the cup, that experience of playing in these games.
“Very rarely do you see a team that hasn’t been in a final before turning up and winning, especially when they are playing against a team who has been there consistently.
“You have to learn how the game goes and what it’s like. We have players who have been there a lot of times, which I think really helped on Sunday but there were guys that were in their first final.
“The next time we get to a final we’ll be more relaxed and know what is going to happen.
“We had a wee chat and spoke about taking what we did on Sunday and how well we did and how close we got and the belief that we can and should be there more regularly.
“We can compete with one of the top teams in the country and were even at a point when we were ahead of them. There are a lot of positives, yes there are disappointments but we’ve got to use that to make sure we get ourselves back.
“We’ve got 20 games to go in the league, we want to win them all and then we’ve got four Scottish Cup games tto ttakek uss bbackk tto a final. There’s a belief we can get there.”
The Hearts squad returned to training yesterday after being given a couple of days off. It’s now full steam ahead in terms of winning the Championship title with Ayr the visitors to Tynecastle on Boxing Day.
Neilson said: “The players understand right from day one the objective is to win the league.
“Yes we want to win cups but the club has to get back to the top flight. The game on Sunday was very important but the next one is even more important for us.”
Captain Steven Naismith will be available after the SFA compliance officer opted not to take further action for an apparent first- half stamp on Celtic’s Scott Brown.
Neilson welcomed the outcome but wasn’t convinced it merited much deliberation as he confirmed Josh Ginnelly and Liam Boyce are both fit.
“To be honest, I didn’t even know it was happening,” he said. “During the game I saw the tackle and didn’t think there was that much in it. I haven’t watched it on TV so I’m just happy to have him back.
“Ginnelly will be fine. He did part of the session yesterday and should be all right. Boycie will be fine, his hamstring tightened up during the game but he’ll be fine.”
The next time we get to a final we’ll be more relaxed and know what is going to happen ROBBIE NEILSON