Sergio hurt by ‘stupid’ Nicholl

Sergio claimed the former Rangers and Manchester United defender had been seeking headlines for his own benefit with his outspoken condemnation of the Tynecastle manager’s team selection in their cup defeat at Ayr United. The Portuguese coach pointed the finger at referee Iain Brines and assistant Tom Murphy for his team’s shock Scottish Communities League Cup exit at Somerset Park after they ruled out an Eggert Jonsson strike that would have put them two goals up.

But Nicholl entered the debate on Thursday, telling the former Sporting Lisbon manager he had no-one to blame but himself for making eight changes to his line-up in a move that “took fans for granted, underestimated the opposition and devalued the competition”.

Sergio again defended his team selection yesterday, pointing out they were good enough to earn a spirited goalless draw away to English Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur in the Europa League last month. And he then went on the attack, insisting that since he took over from Jim Jefferies last month, he has done nothing but support the likes of Old Firm pair Neil Lennon and Ally McCoist and Aberdeen boss Craig Brown during their troubled times.

The 43-year-old was also criticised by Ayr counterpart Brian Reid for failing to give the First Division outfit credit for their spot-kicks triumph.

But Sergio has told Nicholl he will have the last laugh when the final whistle blows on the season in May. He said: “I’m reading in the newspapers and listening to people and I find it funny that other coaches are criticising me for the team that I picked. I want to remind them that those players did very well in London and they are the ones who deserved to win Wednesday’s game.

“Maybe those guys that are talking too much don’t respect their colleagues in their profession. They are profiting to make their own publicity. Maybe they aren’t used to winning too many times and now they are making their own publicity – maybe to get a better job, I don’t know. I know how to deal with it.

“I used to respect other people. The other times I have spoken about colleagues in my profession it was to encourage them – when McCoist and Lennon were beaten in the Europa League, when Craig at Aberdeen lost and people were talking about sacking him. I talked about my colleagues and encouraged them, to say to them I’m on their side. But reading the paper to see someone that I don’t know very well, who is talking stupid things, for me it is hurtful and a thing I will not do in the future.

“I have a message for them – we will meet each other in the future and at the end of the season we will see who is more happy. Maybe they know how to talk about others but they don’t know how to talk about themselves. They have their victory and they are very happy making their own publicity. Congratulations, we will talk in future.”

Sergio continued to support his players yesterday as he looked ahead to tomorrow’s trip to face St Johnstone.

The Gorgie manager was at McDiarmid Park to watch St Johnstone lose 2-0 to St Mirren in Tuesday’s cup tie and is hopeful his side can pick up their first away victory of the season in Perth.

But, despite the bitter disappointment of crashing out of the cup at the first hurdle to lower-league opposition, Sergio reckons the only negative from his revamped team was the slip from skipper Marius Zaliukas that gifted Gareth Wardlaw Ayr’s equaliser.

He added: “I think the players are angry but they are also confident that they did more than enough to deserve to win the game. Now we are out we have to look to the future, to the other cup and to the league and to doing our work. I know we can do better and we are going to do better. That’s our aim, to improve every day. Don’t forget, if we played like we did against Ayr United against Barcelona then maybe we wouldn’t win. But what we did against Ayr United was more than enough to win the game.

“I can’t complain about the attitude and the way the players approached the game.

“They did what they had to do to deserve to win that game. To dance the waltz, you need two. Maybe the other guys don’t want to dance the waltz. We had to dance to the music they are playing and we made steps in a very correct way. We didn’t give them a chance, apart from that mistake of Marius.”

St Johnstone will be without Frazer Wright. The defender was forced out of the midweek Scottish Communities League Cup tie against St Mirren with a torn calf and faces between four and six weeks on the sidelines.