Robbie Neilson, the Hearts head coach, dismissed the prospect of his team going the league season unbeaten after a stunning late equaliser in the Edinburgh derby yesterday preserved their record.
The SPFL Championship leaders were heading for their first league defeat of the campaign, against Hibernian at Easter Road, until defender Alim Ozturk unleashed a long-range shot which flew into Mark Oxley's goal from 35 yards to secure a 1-1 draw. Hearts, who played the closing 11 minutes with 10 men after Callum Paterson was sent off, are seven points clear at the top. Second-placed Rangers have a game in hand.
After nine wins and two draws from 11 matches, Neilson was asked if they could remain unbeaten over the 36-game league campaign. "Nah. There will come a period when we lose a game and it's about how we respond to that. I didn't think we played well. We didn't dominate the game like we usually do. I thought Hibs played really well."
Hibs' Dominique Malonga scored just before the interval but Neilson took that as a challenge. "At half-time we told them it was an opportunity, go out and prove the doubters wrong who say the bubble is going to burst. It's the first time we had been behind this season. It's a good point for us, it keeps us unbeaten. I was pleased for Alim. He goes out and practises shots from distance. He'll hit five of those and four will go over the bar; the other will hit the target."
Ozturk revealed his team-mates tease him for practising shooting. "The boys laugh at me. They are always making jokes and telling me 'don't do it again'. Even after the game everyone in the dressing room said 'we thought you were going to shoot and thought: no, no'. Then it was 'yeah, oh yeah'. Now they can't laugh at me any more. I've proved them wrong."
Alan Stubbs, the Hibs manager, praised his players' intelligence, bravery and commitment. "It's obviously disappointing to lose it so late but I thought we were outstanding, from the first whistle to the last. Not bad for a 'poor' team. There were a few celebrations at the end as if something was won, I noticed. But we'll see in March, April. Some people can say it can feel like a defeat. Not a chance."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article