Livingston boss David Martindale feels his side did enough to progress to the Scottish Cup quarter-finals and admits their exit is a ‘sore one’.
The Lions suffered a fifth round penalty shoot-out loss for the second successive season after being dumped out by Aberdeen last term.
The club has now gone 17 years without reaching the last eight of the competition.
He commented: “I thought over the piece, we gave up a lot of possession, but we dealt with the balls coming into the box.
“Max (Stryjek) had a save from a glancing header but we had two outstanding chances in the first half and then we had one in the second half with Pittman when it hit the inside of the post and fell back into Craig Gordon’s arms.
“It’s always difficult to get beat in this manner. It’s a sore one and I feel sorry for the players. We created the better chances albeit Hearts dominated possession.”
He added: “I don’t buy into the idea that penalties are a lottery. It’s about ability and mentality. Gordon is obviously an imposing figure in the opposition goal.”
The defeat marks the end of a gruelling schedule for the Lions that saw them play eight times in 26 days with Martindale admitting the club’s preparations for the tie were made even more difficult with a prolonged journey back from the Highlands on Wednesday night.
He commented: “I’m not making excuses but we left Ross County at 10pm and it was a five hour bus journey.
“We got stuck in traffic, there was four inches of snow, there was a lorry jack-knifed on the motorway and we were stuck in that queue for an hour and a half.
“The boys are getting in their houses at 4 or 5 am and we had to be back in training that day.
“That obviously doesn’t help you going into this fixture and the substitutions were made because the guys have played a lot of football and that was in the back of my mind.
“I thought the boys did more than enough to maybe nick it although Hearts did dominate possession.”
Don't miss the latest news from the West Lothian Courier. Sign up to our free newsletter here https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/newsletter-preference-centre/
