‘I don’t know if I’ve got any energy left’ - Craig Levein ‘too exhausted’ to celebrate Hearts’ cup win

Craig Levein praised the guts shown by his Hearts players but admitted he was too exhausted to celebrate the penalty shootout win over Aberdeen in the quarter-finals of the Betfred Cup.
Hearts manager Craig Levein celebrates with Craig Halkett and Joel Pereira. Picture: Roddy Scott/SNSHearts manager Craig Levein celebrates with Craig Halkett and Joel Pereira. Picture: Roddy Scott/SNS
Hearts manager Craig Levein celebrates with Craig Halkett and Joel Pereira. Picture: Roddy Scott/SNS

The sides drew 2-2 at Tynecastle after Craig Halkett headed home an injury-time equaliser. There were no goals in extra time and Hearts won 3-0 on penalties to set up a semi-final against Rangers at Hampden on the weekend of 2-3 November.

Aberdeen had twice lead through Sam Cosgrove penalties but Hearts twice pinned them back, with goals from Steven MacLean and then Halkett.

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Cosgrove then missed his spot-kick in the shootout, as did his team-mates Niall McGinn and Bruce Anderson.

Hearts, by contrast, scored three out of three through Glenn Whelan, Michael Smith and Aidan Keena.

Levein said: "I don’t know if I’ve got any energy left to celebrate it. I said before the game it would be tight. It always is. And it went right to the wire.

"We’ve been practising penalties since before (last season's) semi at Murrayfield. And all credit to (assistant manager) Austin (MacPhee), he was working on it in case we got in a similar situation. Credit to him and the boys for coming through."

Levein has been under huge pressure in recent weeks with a section of the Hearts support calling for him to go.

But Sunday's derby win against Hibs followed by the cup success over Aberdeen has given the Gorgie club's season fresh impetus.

"‘We were determined on Sunday and that’s what won us the match," Levein said. "Guts and determination did it again tonight.

"When we play like that, we’ve got a chance of winning every match. The difficulty is we’ve been nervous at home.

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"What helped was the size of the match, the opposition - we weren’t favourites. We were able to relax and play with a bit of freedom.

"That was the confidence gained from the Hibs match.

"The supporters were brilliant, more relaxed. The two things go hand in hand,

"The way we started the game was how they want to see us play. Sometimes playing football with a cloudy head isn’t easy.

"We saw some good football and were unlucky not to be in front early in the game.

"Glenn Whelan’s performance on Sunday was wonderful. I didn’t think it could get much better. But tonight, for me, he was man of the match."

Asked if Hearts has now turned a corner, Levein replied: "We’ll find out how we do at the weekend (against St Mirren). The focus now is on another three points. Two swallows don’t make a summer. Talk to me after 48 swallows."