Hearts’ Scottish Cup Final defeat to Celtic could have cast a shadow over the team going forward. The team battled so hard, pushing Celtic all the way to a penalty shoot-out, that it must have taken a lot out of the players, both physically and emotionally.
Robbie Neilson must have been slightly concerned about a reaction to that game, that the players could have been exhausted from the exertions of six days ago.
Responded in style to going a goal behind
That could certainly have been the case when Ayr United went 2-1 ahead early in the second-half at Tynecastle this afternoon.
Neilson must have wondered what the team’s response to that setback would be? The response would have thrilled the manager. Hearts scored four times in 13 minutes to open up a 5-2 lead. That was the final score also, as Hearts stayed cleared at the top of the Championship.
Perhaps Hearts will be motived for the rest of the season by the events that took place at Hampden Park. That performance showed that Hearts belong in the Premiership. Maybe the players are out to clinch the title as soon as possible as a result.
Look capable of scoring plenty of goals
Hearts are next in action on Tuesday night, when they take on Arbroath. Neilson will be confident that his side are more than capable of running up another goal tally.
Hearts fans will likely be delighted with the reaction to the cup final as well. The fans would have been proud of how the team performed at Hampden, and against Ayr the tram showed that they are more than capable of handling setbacks.