NO HALF MEASURES FOR GORGIE BOSS THIS TIME ROUND, HE HOPES

HEARTS manager Craig Levein walked out at half-time on the last occasion he visited Murrayfield for a big match and hopes his players can give him good reason to hang around until the bitter end today.

Levein watched Scotland play England in the Six Nations in February 2014 and headed home midway through a 20-0 pasting for the national side with the visitors 13 points up at the break.

Murrayfield’s pitch was in a mess at the time, being eaten by roundworms, and eventually had to be replaced by the hybrid Desso Grassmaster version that remains in place now.

Levein is hoping for a far better experience in today’s Betfred Cup semi-final and can’t wait to enter a thunderous atmosphere created by an estimated 30,000 Hearts fans after the battle that took place with SPFL bosses to have the game moved from Hampden.

‘It’s been a hell of a long time since we took that kind of number to a final, never mind a semi-final. It shows you the wisdom of the SPFL putting the game at Murrayfield,’ he said.

‘I have been to one rugby match there and it wasn’t very good. It was an England game, the pitch was terrible and we were getting hammered at halftime, so I went home. Hopefully, I will stay for the full 90 minutes this time.’

Levein also hopes the club’s victory over the staging of their semi-final will help lead to a fairer deal for all fans in future.

The Tynecastle outfit were originally down to face Celtic in a 7.45pm kick-off at the national stadium, just hours after Aberdeen had played Rangers on the same pitch, and made strong representations to the league body.

Levein insists greater thought has to be given to fans and admits he has further concerns about Rangers and Celtic being permitted to host the vast majority of their home league games at 3pm on a Saturday.

‘If you want to promote Scottish football, occasions like Sunday are the perfect opportunity to do that,’ he said. ‘Sometimes, the supporters get forgotten in these things and this was one such situation where money became more important.

‘But I still don’t get how all of us get moved about here and there with different kick-off times, but the Old Firm get to kick-off half the time at 3pm.

‘I don’t get that, but that’s a different matter.’