JOHN Souttar last night refused to blame the winter break for Hearts' 1-1 Scottish Cup draw at Raith Rovers on Sunday. A last minute equaliser from Declan McManus - with an important assist from former Hearts cup hero Rudi Skacel - means that these two teams will play the tie out to a finish on Wednesday night, an encounter given added spice by the fact that the Gorgie side face a potential Edinburgh derby in the next round should they get through.
Hearts famously went down 4-0 to Falkirk during the Craig Levein era back in 2003 immediately upon their return from their winter break but Souttar denied that they got caught cold in a similar manner against a Raith side who had a full Championship programme in January.
"I don't think the winter break was a factor," said Souttar. "I thought we started the game well, started it sharper. Training has been very intense so it’s not like we’ve had that much of a rest. We’ve got back into it quickly and we’ve been doing a lot of double sessions. So I wouldn’t say that’s to blame at all. I just think it’s so disappointing, as you can probably tell, to concede that late goal. It feels like a defeat because it was so late."
With the club's usual starting line-up affected by Africa Cup of Nations call ups and injuries, manager Ian Cathro made four changes to his starting-line up for the match - with places in his defence for Slovenian right back Andraz Struna, German-Ghanaian left-back Lennard Sowah and veteran central defender Aaron Hughes. While they couldn't quite deliver the result the Tynecastle club were looking for, Souttar praised the club's debutants and said that Hughes, the former Newcastle, Fulham and Northern Ireland player in particular had the kind of experience he could hardly fail to learn from.
"I thought it was good - we’ve had nine days together so we've got to know each other," he said. "There’s a lot of experience in there. The right-back, Andraz, has played a lot of games for Slovenia. Aaron obviously comes with a wealth of experience so it’s good.
"There’s always something you can learn from every player, but he [Hughes] is an exception because he has made it, hasn’t he? He’s played 455 games in the Premier League so it’s good for me to learn from people like that."
Raith goal hero Declan McManus said he hoped his close-range header could be the first of many. It came at a difficult time for the on-loan Fleetwood striker, who hasn't been spared by some of the Stark's Park regulars as the club have been on a ten-match winless run.
"It definitely has been a tough period," said McManus. "I’ve had a few jeers off my own fans and stuff like that because we’ve not been scoring goals. They seem to think it was all my fault.
"But listen that doesn’t bother me," he added. "I’m in for it for my teammates and my manager and my club. Fans are more than welcome to have an opinion but that’ll not stop me working hard and trying to get goals as much as I can. Thankfully on Sunday in a big game I managed to grab one and hopefully it’ll kick me on.
"In the second half we more than dominated for large parts of it. If we go and play the exact same way at Tynecastle I’m pretty sure they’ll not like it. It’s a big crowd but it’s a tight pitch and if we get in their faces as we did on Sunday then anything can happen."
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