The managers’ reactions to the Conference League match at Tynecastle Hearts manager Neil Critchley thought about a lost chance against Heidenheim at Tynecastle but had no concerns about the performance.
Although they missed a number of decent chances, especially in the first half, he thought the home team was superior for extended periods of time.
The main offender was Lawrence Shankland, who missed a clear chance to put Hearts up after just three minutes due to a mistake in the German defensive. With nine minutes remaining, the misfiring striker missed another opportunity.
In order to win all three points, Heidenheim scored twice in the second half thanks to headers from Sirlord Conteh and Jan Schoppner, a replacement. Since SV Hamburg in 1976, they are the first German team to triumph at Tynecastle in a competitive match.
With three games remaining in the Conference League, Hearts have dropped to 12th place as they look to qualify for Europe after Christmas for the first time since 1989. They are still on track to qualify for the play-off knockout stage at the very least.
Critchley stated, “When you’re on top, you have to score.” “You must take those risks. In front of the goal, we weren’t clinical. The first goal in particular was one of two genuine moments of quality that followed.
“The outcome disappoints me, but not the performance. We performed about as well tonight as we did against Omonoia, in my opinion. When we were ahead, we just failed to score.
And I believe the game was there for us to win if we had taken our chances. However, I felt that the guys’ mindset and attitude were positive. We reached the very end. I’m simply let down.
You don’t always receive what you deserve. We didn’t get what we deserved tonight, in my opinion. They haven’t scored the goals by forcing us back in their own half, playing through us, or taking control,” he continued.
The first goal was merely a counterattack, a truly impressive moment. The striker is running after the ball just dropped and the boy broke it after crossing it. The goal was admirable. Their taking over the game had nothing to do with it. It was a moment of counterattack.
After that, I felt we were outstanding. Our response, in my opinion, was excellent. I thought the game should have given us more. We faced strong opposition. We faced off in a European game that was really competitive and had a nice atmosphere. And regrettably, tonight we have come out on the losing side.
Frank Schmidt, the manager of Heidenheim, expressed his relief at the fact that the score was remained 0-0 at halftime. “Well done to Hearts for that; it was a tough first half,” he remarked. They caused us a great deal of difficulty. Hearts performed admirably. We were late to second balls because we were unable to cling onto the ball.
They placed a lot of pressure on us. I also believe that our confidence was lowered following a few less-than-ideal outcomes. In the second half, we were able to participate more, play better defence, and attack with more precision. We played well to take a 1-0 lead, and the game was all but finished after the second goal.
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