MacPhee set for talks with Budge

INTERIM Hearts boss Austin MacPhee will hold talks with owner Ann Budge over his Tynecastle future this morning. The sacking of Craig Levein saw his No2 put in charge for yesterday’s 3-0 defeat to Rangers in the Betfred Cup semi-final. Motherwell’s Stephen Robinson is favourite for the Tynecastle hotseat, with Budge due to address the media today. Ex-Hearts winger Neil McCann has also thrown his hat into the ring. When MacPhee was asked if he still expects to be in the technical area for Saturday’s crunch bottom-of-the-table clash with St Mirren, the Northern Ireland coach said: ‘I’ll meet with Ann tomorrow morning, which was scheduled anyway. We’ll obviously talk about the structure in the next week, but I would imagine so.’ MacPhee made some big selection calls at Hampden, leaving striker Uche Ikpeazu on the bench before sending him on to replace Steven MacLean, who had been booked, after 38 minutes. A pre-match plan to introduce Ikpeazu, Steven Naismith and Jamie Walker as impact substitutes was wrecked amid injuries to midfield man Glenn Whelan and defender Michael Smith before half-time. Asked how the defeat might impact on the search for a new boss, MacPhee shrugged: ‘This is the fourth game I’ve stood in for different reasons. I’ve won my previous three against Motherwell, Livingston and St Mirren. ‘This was a cup semi-final against Rangers. We haven’t beaten them since 2017, and we’ve lost two experienced players through injury, so I’m just going to do what I did the other times and ensure Hearts are ready to beat St Mirren on Saturday.’ Whelan and Smith will have scans on their injuries today. With Naismith and Walker fit again, the loss of another two key players would be a blow after Hearts were second best to Rangers in every department. ‘It was disappointing,’ said MacPhee. ‘Everything had to go our way if we were to get a result but to lose Glenn so early... he’s a very important player, then we lost the first goal just before half-time. ‘We hoped we could get in and regroup, then add Jamie Walker and Steven Naismith to the team later on, as well as having Uche strong at the end of the game, but I had to introduce him early. ‘I thought the team could have gone under at 3-0. But they stuck to it. ‘The focus is on Saturday now, we need a good attacking performance. ‘The players, myself and the staff must be as well prepared as possible for St Mirren as we haven’t won at Tynecastle in a while.’