‘Chance missed’ rues Hearts boss afterwell defeat
Hearts blew the chance to move into second place with a win here and manager Robbie Neilson did not attempt to gloss over what had been a below-par display from his players, who rarely looked like threatening a dominant Motherwell side.
He also clearly felt that referee Willie Collum has also had better afternoons but stopped short of saying so.
“Is it a chance missed? Aye,” he admitted.
“I’m disappointed. I didn’t think we played well today, it was probably one of the worst games I have seen from us for a while. The game didn’t flow, it was free-kick, throw-in, corner, free-kick, throw-in, corner and we couldn’t get any flow in the game.
“When you come to these matches you need... I’ll not say too much or I will end up getting banned but it wasn’t a game we will be looking back on too much.”
Asked about the penalty claim Collum dismissed at 1-0, he replied: “I don’t know: you had no idea what was going to happen at any point in the game, the way it was. It could have gone for us, it could have went for them, it could have been play-on, it was one of those days, it wasn’t pretty.
“I spoke to Willie at the end. I’ve already been banned this season so there’s no point in saying anything because the game is done now. Their first goal is a blocked shot and it falls to their player. To be honest, in the first half we probably had the better of the chances.
“Josh Ginnelly is one v one, Ben Woodburn goes through, we had a couple of other ones who went through and we never took them today. In the second half, if it became three passes a goal it would still be 0-0.”
“We came here and it’s a big game for Motherwell – you could see that at the end by the way they were celebrating.
“We have to handle that. We know it’s going to be direct, second balls, free-kicks, and when you give them the lead they’re going to kill the game so you live and learn.
“It’s always tougher away from home for any football club. That’s the nature of the game – through the history of football, it is always difficult away from home.”