Thanks for your efforts, Neil.
Drop off your club hoodie behind the front desk at Tynecastle any time you like.
And don’t let the door hit you on the backside on the way out.
That really ought to be it for Neil Critchley at Hearts.
You can talk about fine margins, missed chances, mitigating circumstances, bad refereeing and all the rest of it until the cows come home.
When you’re a manager who can’t win any games that really matter, it quickly gets to the stage where it’s time up.
And no matter the fact the Jam Tarts finished this one with nine men following the first-half sending-off of Michael Steinwender and Cammy Devlin’s expulsion just moments before substitute Oday Dabbagh scored the extra-time goal that put Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup final, that’s the stark fact facing the Tynecastle board after this latest defeat.
Dabbagh celebrates his last-gasp Scottish Cup semi-final winner for Aberdeen over Hearts
Gueye’s header broke the deadlock for Dons after it bounced back off Gordon and into the net
Shankland fired home the equaliser for Hearts but the nine men succumbed in extra-time
The 23,000-strong Gorgie support didn’t focus their rage on Critchley at time-up. Referee John Beaton was left to soak up all of the opprobrium after brandishing two red cards that didn’t seem quite as outrageous as Critchley seemed to suggest post-match.
It’ll surely come, though. There’s a question to be asked over whether events with Steinwender and Devlin buy him a bit of extra time, but a glance at the 46-year-old’s record in the major fixtures is unacceptable in anyone’s eyes.
Three games against Hibs have brought two losses and a draw. Meetings with Celtic and Rangers have brought four losses and 11 goals against. Facing Aberdeen in the league, they’ve managed just two draws. Chuck in Dundee United, whom they fell to at home in very costly fashion recently, and they’ve won six points from a possible 33 against the top five in the table under him.
That’s before we even get on to blowing qualification for the knockouts at home to Moldovan minnows FC Petrocub in their closing UEFA Conference League group game in December.
It cannot go on. CEO Andrew McKinlay came close to admitting as much during his website address in midweek when apologising to supporters for failing to make the top six in the Premiership.
Hearts are running a big wage bill. Aberdeen have been splashing the cash themselves of late and it’s probably nip-and-tuck between them as to who are the largest spenders outwith the Old Firm, but one thing is clear. You can’t be forking out this kind of cash and lolling around where Hearts are at the moment.
One thing that might save Critchley is that Jamestown Analytics were involved in his appointment, but you really only need to be able to add two and two together to realise that the progress he has made since taking over from Steven Naismith in October has not been enough. Hearts have to aim for more than just beating the diddy teams.
Of course, Aberdeen fans would be justified in wondering why more of the focus from yesterday’s win is not on them. It is probably because they were fortunate to get away with this.
A goal up in the wake of a slow, sloppy start after a Pape Gueye header had hit the bar and gone in off goalkeeper Craig Gordon, they conceded to Hearts captain Lawrence Shankland and turned in a performance over the regulation 90 that was as grey and nondescript as the change strips they wore.
Gordon’s first proper save didn’t come until the 101st minute when he had to get down low to an unexacting Kevin Nisbet effort. True, the Dons did pick up the pace a little in extra-time and probably merited their win in the end, but it wasn’t pretty.
Not that manager Jimmy Thelin will care as he prepares for the first cup final of his managerial career. He needed a big win almost as much as Critchley in the wake of a campaign that started like a storm and has been threatening to run out of wind since.
His team’s opener certainly came very much against the run of play. They had been atrociously slack in the early stages, misplacing passes, losing possession in silly places, failing to make any great inroads in an attacking sense.
A few minutes in, their goalkeeper Dimitar Mitov had failed to deal with a curling ball in from James Penrice, Shankland had a swipe at it and then Jamie McCart shot wide after appearing to use an arm. Elton Kabangu had also passed up a fine opportunity before the Dons snatched the lead pretty much out of the blue.
With 18 minutes on the clock, Leighton Clarkson delivered a good, pacy corner-kick from the left, Gueye got above Mats Knoester and saw his header crash off the underside of the bar and cross the line after a fortuituous deflection off Gordon’s left knee.
Gueye must have thought he was about to make it 2-0 just before the half-hour when throwing himself at a crossball from Shayden Morris, only for Cammy Devlin to steal in and flick the ball away with his head at the last moment.
It proved a most influential intervention from the Aussie. Within a minute, Hearts had charged back upfield and made it 1-1. A ball from the left from Penrice missed everyone and made its way to Shankland on the right side of the area.
He controlled it with his chest and smashed a finely-struck effort straight through Mitov’s legs and into the net for just his fifth goal of the campaign.
Shankland has been a pale shadow of himself this term, but, for a while, it looked like Critchley’s decision to recall him to the starting line-up after two games on the bench might just pay off.
He had certainly regained the momentum for his side. That was, until Steinwender stepped to the fore. In truth, the Austrian had looked a little wobbly at the back, his use of the ball particularly questionable at times.
Nowhere near as questionable, mind you, as his decision-making in the 44th minute when presented with Topi Keskinen moving onto a knock-on from Gueye in the central area of the pitch and setting sail for goal.
Steinwender saw red just before half-time as Hearts gifted the initiative to Aberdeen
Steinwender was just too slow in putting in his tackle. Keskinen went crashing and referee Beaton reached immediately for the red card. Keskinen would have been clean through and the foul that stopped him from taking advantage of a goalscoring opportunity had to be punished.
Sadly, that moment also killed the game as a spectacle. The second half was brutal – and that’s all on Aberdeen. Critchley took off James Wilson and Kabangu at the break and shoved on Frankie Kent and Craig Halkett to go to a back three and could argue that his side were still the better team until extra-time.
That’s when Thelin’s men started to get on top. After that Nisbet effort was safely handled by Gordon, Dabbagh, thrown on for Gueye, forced a good save from the Hearts keeper before Alexander Jensen volleyed wide from a great position.
Devlin, already in the book for an earlier foul on Gueye, was then sent packing by Beaton when catching Dante Polvara as Hearts tried to clear their lines after a Jeppe Okkels shot had been saved by Gordon and Kent had kicked a follow-up effort off the line.
And, moments later, it was all over. A goal earned by a gaggle of supersubs, much like many of the goals Thelin’s side served up during the glory days of the early part of the season.
Jamie McGrath put in a ball from the right, Jack Milne released a shot that Gordon could only parry and Dabbagh pounced to stick the ball high in the net.
All that was left for Hearts was for assistant manager Mike Garrity to be sent-off after the final whistle for approaching Beaton. Next thing must surely be the entire coaching staff getting their jotters.
