Robbie Neilson joked he wanted Toby Sibbick to put the ball out for a GOAL KICK before he netted the sublime injury strike that put the seal on a Hearts Scottish Cup win - and the Tynecastle gaffer’s first ever as a player or manager at the home of his fierce rivals.
Sibbick netted his first ever Jambos goal to cap a man of the mach display in Leith as the men in maroon strolled to a 3-0 win to secure their place in the hat for the last 16 as they look to go one better than last season’s runners-up spot to Rangers. But it came in injury time with the visitors down to 10 men after fellow scorer Lawrence Shankland had been sent off and Neilson would have been happy for the defender to run down the clock only for him to score at the end of his bursting run.
The former Barnsley man has come through a tough time and Neilson, in the stand as he served a touchline ban, told Viaplay after the match: “He’s been hiding that very, very well. To be honest I was saying ‘just put it out for a goal kick - do not give it to the keeper’. His touch was a wee bit heavy but I’m delighted for him. He’s been outstanding recently. He had a wee difficult period at the start of the season but he’s very strong mentally and the rest of the players helped him through it.
“I’m delighted with the result. We’ve been in decent form but you’re never sure how the game is going to go coming into a derby. But the players were outstanding, great result - and we’re in the hat which is the main thing. When you come away form home, especially here the pitch isn’t great, it’s hard to get control of the game. And sitting with that back five at times with three in front it kind of nullifies things but w have the quality on the break as we saw with the final goal. It was more of a workmanlike performance than we’re used to but it’s about getting through the next round.”
Neilson admitted that being free of European games has helped them step up a gear as they look odds-on for a third place finish in the league. He said: “The issue we had at the start of the season was that we had a number of injures and we turned to the bench and it was bringing the quality down. But the players we’ve brought in and also the guys coming back from injury, you can make a change now and the level goes up again. Everyone knows if you have a squad like that then you’re on to a winner.
“The start of the season was always going to be difficult because the players aren’t used to playing Thursday-Sunday-Thursday-Sunday which the Old Firm are used to. So they can come back on a Sunday and change their players which we couldn’t do.
"The start of the season was a real learning curve for us all but you can see the quality we have now it’s Saturday to Saturday. The ambition is to get as close to the Old Firm as we can.
"There’s a gap at the moment but we want to get closer and if we look up the way then we don’t have to worry about what’s below us. We want minimum third place and try to win the Scottish Cup this time. We’ve been to the final three out of the last four years and it would be nice to take that next step.”
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