Hearts have made a donation to Hamilton’s youth academy to apologise for pyro pitch damage caused by fans.
The Jambos booked their spot in the quarter-final of the Scottish Cup with a 2-0 win in Lanarkshire last Friday night. Robbie Neilson's team were backed by a bumper travelling support of 3,327 - the biggest away attendance in New Douglas Park’s history. They were in fine voice as Stephen Humphrys and Cammy Devlin sent the capital club through to the last eight, where they will face Celtic at Tynecastle.
However, not all were on their best behaviour in Lanarkshire. Pyrotechnics were smuggled in and thrown on the pitch after Humprhys opened the scoring, causing damage to the artificial playing surface. Chief executive Andrew McKinlay confirmed that Hearts had donated £3,000 to Accies to say sorry, and reminded fans such behaviour was unacceptable, while praising the numbers fans have their side in this season.
He said: "With the news that, once again, demand to watch Heart of Midlothian is outstripping supply, I’d like to take a moment to say some words about our phenomenal fanbase.
"On Tuesday, our allocation of 2,200 for this Sunday’s cinch Premiership match at Motherwell sold out. Our hosts have opened up two more sections, so we can expect to see in excess of 3,000 Hearts fans at Fir Park.
"This is our second away match in a row and comes off the back of last week’s Scottish Cup win at Hamilton Academical. There were 3,727 Jambos in South Lanarkshire, which is the biggest ever away attendance recorded at Accies’ stadium.
"In Gorgie we have, to date, seen attendances totalling more than 315,000. It is not unreasonable to think that with the number of home games we have remaining, we could hit around the 450,000 mark come the end of the season.
"Those are the supporters who have watched us, then there are those fans who want to watch us. Currently, the season ticket waiting list stands at more than 3,500. With more than 15,500 season ticket holders already in place, I cannot think of another club in Scotland outside of Celtic and Rangers that has such demand.
“These figures simply point to the continued commitment of Hearts supporters to travel near and far – by bus and car, some may say – to back this club to the hilt and it is greatly appreciated. The players regularly comment on how much of a help the atmosphere is at Tynecastle and the huge numbers of fans that journey to away games often make visiting grounds feel like home and this is of huge benefit to Robbie Neilson and his first team.
“To take last week’s game at Hamilton into isolation, the atmosphere created by our fans on Friday night was incredible. There were, unfortunately, some needless scenes created by the throwing of pyrotechnics onto the pitch. It would be remiss of me not to point out that this is unacceptable, and these incidents caused considerable damage to Accies’ synthetic surface.
"Such was the damage to the pitch and to some seats in the away section, the club has donated £3,000 to Hamilton’s youth academy both by way of apology and as a gesture of goodwill. The use of pyro has also seen us fined by UEFA this season and as such, I must implore fans not to bring these dangerous items to any Hearts game.
“With the team once again third in the league and in the latter stages of the Scottish Cup, and pushing for European football, it could be argued that there has never been a better time to be a Hearts fan. What cannot be argued is the vitally important part that our supporters are playing in helping to drive this club forward to another level.
“On behalf of everyone at Hearts, I thank you for your support and we all look forward to experiencing a sea of maroon at every game from now until the end of the season.”
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