Hearts boss Robbie Neilson admits it was "too easy" for Celtic to break down his team, after the Jambos were knocked out of the Scottish Cup at the quarter final stage with a 3-0 loss at Tynecastle.
Neilson's men got off to the worst possible start with just two minutes on the clock, as Jota was allowed to drive down the right to pull the ball back to Aaron Mooy who beat Zander Clark with a strike from 14 yards out. Although they were without their talisman striker Lawrence Shankland, the Jambos offered a decent response to going behind, and defender Tobey Sibbick was denied an equaliser by a stunning save from close range by Joe Hart.
However the Hoops were once again able to show their ruthless streak in front of goal, as Kyogo Furuhashi expertly flicked the ball home from Alistair Johnston's near post cross to double the away side's lead with a minute of the half remaining.
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After the break, Hearts looked leggy as Ange Postecoglou's men upped the gears and dominated the rest of the game. Clark was able to keep out an effort from Jota, but the hosts did concede a third and final goal on 80 minutes, when Cameron Carter-Vickers was left unopposed to head home from Matt O'Riley's set piece.
The defeat was the Gorgie side's second loss to Celtic in the space of three days, with the league champions running out 3-1 winners in the Premiership at Parkhead on Wednesday night, despite going a goal up early on through Josh Ginnelly.
Hearts were looking to reach their third Scottish Cup final in the last four years, but now must fully focus on securing third spot in the league, which will once again guarantee them European group stage football next season.
But manager Robbie Neilson could not hide his disappointment at the nature of the goals conceded by his team in the early lunchtime kick-off, and admits his players simply ran out of steam as the game wore on.
Speaking to Viaplay Sports he said: "I thought we had recovered well from going 1-0 down and managed to get a foothold back in the game and create some opportunities. But key moments didn't happen for us today.
"The second goal is a huge disappointment as if we had gone into the break 1-0 down we would have still been in the game.
"Even in the second half I thought we still managed to have a couple of chances, but I think we just ran out of steam in the end.
"The third one summed up the goals we lost today. It was so easy for them to just bump us out of the way in the six-yard box, and that shouldn't be allowed to happen."
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