NO LAST LAFF
Kyle gives gifts to fans but Levein insists star will stay
Craig Levein insists Kyle Lafferty hasn’t played his last game for Hearts – despite the striker throwing his shirt into the crowd after the Cup win.
The Northern Ireland star is wanted by Rangers and the clubs are discussing a transfer fee.
The former Ibrox favourite came on as a sub as Olly Lee’s goal sent the Jambos into the quarter-finals.
But despite Lafferty gifting his top to a fan and also handing over his shinpads, Levein claimed there was no hidden message.
He said: “Kyle costs us a fortune – he does that every week – so don’t read anything into that. Do I think that’s his last game? No.”
Levein admitted he could need two new defenders after Aaron Hughes l imped of f . Skipper Christophe Berra is already out for six months and his replacement Hughes suffered a calf injury.
Midfielder Peter Haring finished the game at centre-back but the Jambos boss said: “I said I didn’t want to move Peter into defence but I didn’t have a lot of choice.
“I’m in the middle of trying to get another centre-back in and I might need two now, although I better not tell Ann (Budge) that.
“It was a blow for Aaron and for us because I like Peter in midfield.”
Pars were on the back foot early on but once they settled they held their own against the top-flight outfit – and Faissal El Bakhtaoui cracked the Jambos’ bar.
The on- loan Dundee striker came close again in 69 minutes but his acrobatic effort was beaten away by Zdenek Zlamal. Hearts always carried a threat and when Lee was granted a yard of space inside the box in 79 minutes, he drilled a shot into the far corner.
Levein added: “It was a good goal. Olly has great technique and I like when he gets close to the goal because he is very accurate with his shooting. There wasn’t much space for him but he found the bottom corner.”
Pars almost levelled but Zlamal denied Danny Devine with a superb save from his dipping header.
He also pulled off a fine stop from Aidan Connolly late on.
Levein said: “Maybe I’m a bit hard to please but I’d have expected him to save those.
“The last one was outstanding though. It was a tough match but we did deserve to go through.”