Craig Levein insists he will accentuate the Edinburgh derby positives this week as he bids to ready Hearts for Hampden.
The Tynecastle outfit were denied a morale-boosting victory ahead of Saturday’s William Hill Scottish Cup semi-final when Hibernian roared back from a goal down to defeat their bitter rivals 2-1 at the weekend.
The Jambos earned a deserved lead through Peter Haring’s 25th-minute header but passed up further chances and were beaten at home by Hibs for the first time in almost six years thanks to Daryl Horgan’s double.
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Levein blamed his players’ inability to capitalise on their goal-scoring opportunities but reckons there was plenty to be pleased about ahead of their meeting with Ladbrokes Championship hopefuls Inverness Caledonian Thistle on Saturday.
He said: “I thought we played reasonably well. Our biggest failing was not putting the ball in the back of the net when we had the opportunities.
“If we were as clinical as Hibs were then it might have been something like 6 or 7-2.
“But we’re in the position of still having something major to look forward to.
“We’ve also got the chance to go back to Easter Road in a couple of weeks’ time and make amends for Saturday’s result.
“I can’t afford to dwell too long on Saturday’s disappointment.
“We have to focus for this week and I’ll be talking to the players about the good things we did and taking those into the match.
“The positives we had were plenty effort, lots of good passages of play, good performances and chances created. We also defended well, apart from the two goals.
“The performance is the thing we will concentrate on and try to replicate it against Inverness.”
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With the prospect of a first Scottish Cup final since their much-celebrated 5-1 thrashing of Hibs in 2012, Levein is also desperate for a previously promising league campaign not to fizzle out.
Having kicked off the season as league leaders and talked of as potential title contenders, the Gorgie men now sit a lowly sixth going into the top-six fixtures.
Levein added: “I want to finish as high up [the table] as possible.
“We’ve got Rangers and then Hibs in the first two matches, so [they’re] big games that we’re looking forward to.”
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