Losing influence of Walker cost Hearts, insists boss Levein
HEARTS manager Craig Levein insisted his side’s defeat at Murrayfield was entirely down to the loss of Jamie Walker through a second-half hamstring problem rather than any positive reaction from Rangers to the return of Kenny Miller and the removal of Pedro Caixinha.
The match was balanced at 1-1 when Walker had to limp off to be replaced by David Milinkovic on 52 minutes and join a midfield injury-list that already included Don Cowie, Prince Buaben, Arnaud Djoum and Malaury Martin.
Miller scored the second of his two goals shortly afterwards to get Rangers back in front and Josh Windass tied it up after Levein had taken 16-year-old Harry Cochrane out of the centre of the field as a result of it being ‘a game too far’ for him.
‘When Jamie got injured, I felt the whole thing fell apart. I put it down to that,’ said the Tynecastle boss. ‘It was a huge blow, as it is an area we’ve been struggling in.
‘We worked hard playing our system and it was working. He is key in that and we were already short of four players and didn’t have anyone to put in to do the same sort of thing.
‘He has a hamstring problem and I don’t know the extent of it, but he won’t be available for the next couple of games.
‘It is easy to look at the last 20 or 30 minutes and say they (Rangers) got a bounce, but we were the better side in the first half. They had possession without really causing us any problems and our defence was excellent.
‘They got a goal at the tail-end of the first half that was a bit of a punch to the solar plexus, but I didn’t feel under any threat.
‘When we lost Jamie, our shape went a little bit. When you get a second goal and a third quickly after, you can look at that and call it a bounce — but it was more to do with the lack of personnel we had than anything else.’
Ross Callachan missed a great chance to make it 2-0 on 25 minutes as he put a weak shot straight at Rangers keeper Wes Foderingham.
‘First half, we were dominating,’ said defender John Souttar. ‘I don’t think Rangers could have complained if we had gone on to make it two or three nil.
‘We were poor after maybe 60 minutes, though, and it was my fault for the second goal because I let Kenny Miller peel off me and should have got tighter.
‘At 3-1, the game drifted away from us. Any team in the SPFL that loses Walker would feel it because of how much an influence he is on us going forward.’
Souttar did concede, though, that Rangers benefited from the return of Miller to the side.
‘When their manager left, you sort of knew he would be back in and it gave them a lift,’ said the former Dundee United man.
‘I think it was down to us, though, that they won the game.’