Neil Critchley: I don't want Hearts to be a 'nearly' team

Neil Critchley admitted to being disappointed his Hearts side didn’t take their biggest chance at Ibrox on Sunday and insisted he didn’t want his side take plaudits for being close to positive results.

A fifth-minute goal from Rangers striker Cyriel Dessers was enough to settle the contest in Glasgow, with Hearts leaving without a point despite their efforts.

Kenneth Vargas in particular had chances to score but Hearts couldn’t find a way past Rangers goalkeeper Jack Butland.

Hearts boss Critchley felt that taking a chance at the right time could have affected the atmosphere inside Ibrox and that his side could have capitalised on that.

“We got off to the worst possible start, obviously,” he said. “We were too tentative at the start.

“Rangers scored. We grew into the game, but their best moments probably came from us giving the ball away in the mid-third of the pitch in the first half when they broke on us. But we controlled a lot of the game.

“We had a big chance right after half-time and I felt that if we’d have taken that, with the feeling around the ground, maybe the game would have swung even more in our favour.”

Crithcley insisted that he was more interested in points than praise and didn’t want his team to pick up a tag for coming close.

“I think in the second half we controlled the game, pushed Rangers back and we’ve had nearly moments,” he said. “But I don’t want us to be a nearly team.

“People keep saying, ‘oh, good performance’, but I don’t want that feeling.

“Good performances is about getting points and winning games, and we should have got something from that game today.”