Robbie Neilson says Jorge Grant's red card took their Europa League play-off with FC Zurich away from them after a valiant effort at Tynecastle.
The Jambos are looking forward to tomorrow's Europa Conference League group stage draw after dropping into that competition with a 3-1 play-off defeat versus the Swiss champions. After losing the first leg 2-1 away from, they succumbed to a 1-0 defeat on home soil. They dominated proceedings but the game turned when Grant saw red for a second booking because of a dive.
Neilson was left proud of his team who were the better side up against their foreign visitors to Tynecastle. He said: "I am very proud of the players tonight as I thought they were outstanding. I am proud of the club as we have been on a long journey. We've been in administration, demoted and came back up again. We wanted to give back to the fans so we have a lot of pride.
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"For 60 minutes I thought we were the better team and I thought we put the Swiss champions under pressure. The red card changes it and made it difficult.
"Overall there is a disappointment but there's a pride in the club. In my opinion, as soon as there is contact it should be a penalty. The referee has saw it a different way and given a penalty.
"It's cost us the tie. We were still only 2-1 down but if you give these players time on the ball... we struggled to apply the pressure we needed."
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