Craig Levein: I'm even more upset we didn't beat Aberdeen

Hearts manager Craig Levein'¨says watching a rerun of last weekend's goalless draw with Aberdeen has made him even more disappointed that his side did not collect all three points.
Hearts' John Souttar, right, competes with Aberdeen's Stevie May at BT Murrayfield. Picture: Rob Casey/SNSHearts' John Souttar, right, competes with Aberdeen's Stevie May at BT Murrayfield. Picture: Rob Casey/SNS
Hearts' John Souttar, right, competes with Aberdeen's Stevie May at BT Murrayfield. Picture: Rob Casey/SNS

Levein was denied a winning return to the dugout as Dons keeper Joe Lewis pulled off a series of stunning saves in a man-of-the-match performance at BT Murrayfield.

Although delighted with the endeavour his side showed to end the visitors’ flawless Premiership start, Levein claimed his side felt “robbed”.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The former Scotland manager’s mood was not helped when he sat down to analyse the hugely encouraging 90 minutes.

Levein, whose team will bid to collect their first win at Hamilton since 2011 on 
Saturday, said: “I didn’t realise that we had so many chances, I knew we had a few but I didn’t realise we had as many as we had so that’s probably increased my disappointment slightly.

“The way we played I was happy with, other than the first 20 minutes of the match when we didn’t quite deal with Aberdeen’s starting system.

“But once we got that sorted out we grew into the game and I thought in the second half we were excellent.

“I hope [that sets the standard for moving forward], it would be a travesty to put that amount of effort in to then go in to the Hamilton game and not turn up.

“That’s my biggest concern and I have to make sure the players are as ready for this match against Hamilton as they were against Aberdeen.”

The visit of the Dons was played in front of nearly 25,000 fans at BT Murrayfield in what was the first of three “home” matches for Hearts at the neighbouring 67,144 capacity stadium.

And Hearts defender John Souttar praised the supporters for contributing to a 
memorable atmosphere after fearing that the home of Scottish rugby would feel like a “ghost town”.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

He said: “I thought it was a really nice experience, Murrayfield is a beautiful stadium and the atmosphere was good.

“It was a good atmosphere and I think the boys lived up to that. When we were there the day before, we thought this could be a ghost town because it looked that big but on the day of the game you could never tell because there was that much noise and they made it a really good day.”

Souttar, meanwhile, hopes training on artificial grass today and tomorrow at the club’s Oriam base will stand the players in good stead for playing on Accies’ synthetic surface on Saturday.

Speaking to Hearts TV, the Scotland Under-21 internationalist said: “It’s a completely different game from the grass.

“You wouldn’t imagine everything is so different; the way you check, the way you move is so different.

“That gives them an edge but I think if we play like we did last weekend then I think we’ll 
be fine.

“That will certainly help that we’re training on the astro on Thursday and Friday.

“Obviously we’ve not won there since 2011 so it’s going to be a tough, tough game on the astro, which is never easy.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“We want to build up some momentum now, we played well at the weekend so hopefully we can start producing wins.”

Levein, meanwhile, was delighted to see left-back 
Ashley Smith-Brown return to action in Tuesday’s Under-20s 3-0 defeat at St Mirren.

The on-loan Manchester City player has been hampered by groin and ankle problems after being forced off 28 minutes into July’s Betfred Cup win over Elgin City.

Levein added: “He’s obviously a talented boy but it’s 
just been a bit of stop-start beginning for him. Hopefully, if he can get a little run of games soon, we can see the best of him.”