Neilson puts new spin on 'mix-up' that broke Hearts

A THESIS could be produced on what happened in the lead up to Celtic's winner yesterday. Robbie Neilson certainly provided an original interpretation of the split-second before Craig Gordon knocked the ball over the line with his outstretched right hand. The Hearts defender, whose vantage point was the goalline, believes he should have done more after a shot from Stephen McManus reared up off the Scotland goalkeeper.

"It was a mix-up," Neilson said. "I was going to play it away and Craig thought he could catch it. But there was a bit of spin on the ball and it squeezed in at the near post. I could have put my foot through it."

Neilson refused to take the view that Gordon should be reproaching himself for the intervention that made him look downright silly and was responsible for Celtic moving 13 points ahead of the Gorgie side. "Craig is fine," Neilson said. "He is probably the best goalkeeper in Britain. I don't want to criticise him. I can't. He has won so many games for us and pulled off so many fantastic saves. He is a top-class keeper and won't let this affect him."

The full-back just pulled himself back from conceding that nothing can now affect the outcome of the championship. "It will look on the outside that the gap is too much," Neilson admitted. "But we have to keep working, keep trying to stay above Rangers and trying hard to claw it back. It is a big gap but we have to stay positive."

Neilson maintained that Hearts will somehow succeed in taking positives into their CIS Cup quarter-final derby at Easter Road on Wednesday evening. "We can't look on the end as dispiriting. We created a lot of chances, which we haven't been doing, and could have been two or three up if Andrius [Velicka] had scored his. If you don't go a couple up at this place they gain a bit of impetus and they start to put you under pressure."

Hearts acting head Eduard Malofeev was accused of contributing to his team's demise. He removed the influential Bruno Aguiar 10 minutes from time, despite the fact Marius Zaliukas struggled with a knee injury in the second period, and had a change of mind over introducing Julien Brellier. The Russian was unrepentant about his decisions regarding Zaliukas and Brellier, but conceded ground over Aguiar.

"There is no football without injury and real men forget about the pain and just go on," he said of the Lithuanian midfielder. "I made two necessary changes that were unsuccessful and if I made another it might also have been unsuccessful. My colleague Gordon Strachan brought on the Czech player [Jiri Jarosik] and he was lucky with that. Aguiar was tired but now when I think about it, maybe I shouldn't have taken him off."

Taken from the Scotsman