Disappointed Lee Johnson reckons Ryan Porteous should have known better than to commit the "silly" foul that led to Hearts' opener at Easter Road. And the boss admits his side were punished by the "harsh realities" of cup football.
Hibs competed well for spells but couldn't match the quality of their rivals from Gorgie as Josh Ginnelly, Lawrence Shankland and Toby Sibbick made them pay. The opener came after a foul from Porteous allowed Robert Snodgrass to swing in a free-kick and Johnson was left bemused by the defender's decision-making. He said on Viaplay Sports: "It was a silly foul, we shouldn't have given it away. The centre-forward is facing away from goal and we don't defend the cross anywhere near well enough. From Ginnelly it was a good clinical finish.
"But we stayed on the front foot, we tried to penetrate as much as we could and I thought we could have delivered earlier than we did. Forwards need to know when the ball is coming in, sometimes we'd do a trick when there's no need for a trick, just set the ball aside and deliver early crosses. Make them defend, but we allowed them to settle in.
"We still had chances. But at the moment, we're not getting the little bit of luck, the ricochet that allows us to get a goal."
Johnson thought his side played well but admits you need to take your chances - especially in one-off cup games where a defeat means it is game over. He said: "Obviously it's disappointing we're out of the cup. It wasn't good enough in both boxes today, that was probably the difference.
"Overall I thought we had good opportunities and good control of the game and I suppose that's the disappointing thing. We've actually played well today and ended up 3-0 losers, it's a harsh fact and a harsh reality of a one off game and in one sense, it shows where we need to get to.
"We've played well but we've probably not showed the guile, quality and composure we needed to. And then we've given up one or two chances, and the clinical nature of Hearts has ended up killing us. We're disappointed because we believed there was a real opportunity there for us. The guys went out and fought their socks off but inevitably it wasn't good enough."
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