‘We made them look like PSG’ blasts Levein

Hearts manager Craig Levein slammed his players for making Livingston “look like PSG” on a stunning night in West Lothian. It was still 0-0 midway through the secondhalf as Hearts sought to secure the victory that would take them level on points with Celtic at the top of the league.

By the time Nick Walsh blew his final whistle Hearts had conceded five goals, including four in a period of nine minutes. During this same spell they also had Arnaud Djoum sent off for a second bookable offence. Goalkeeper Zdenek Zlamal sparked the collapse by needlessly conceding a penalty when flattening Craig Halkett.

“Horrible. Embarrassing,” said Levein. “I just didn’t see it coming. OK, we had some things against us starting with Clevid [Dikamona] going off injured. The second half, I felt we started reasonably well. We were better.

“Then we had a mad spell around the first goal. Bobby [Zlamal] has spent far too long making up his mind whether to come for the ball and paid the penalty. We lost Arnaud, which I thought was harsh. But it wasn’t what led to us losing five goals.

“That was down to us capitulating. We made them look like PSG at times.”

Livingston manager Gary Holt was understandably delighted with a result that sees his side move up to fifth place.

“When Hearts went down to ten men, we didn’t panic, we played with composure and created chances,” said Holt

More than this, they took these chances. Dolly Menga’s solo effort, leaving three Hearts players on the ground, will be recalled for years to come.

“It was entertaining to look at but I was shouting to shoot about eight times before he actually hit it!” said Holt. “That’s Dolly, he can make a fool of you but make a fool of himself at times.”