Zander Clark explains taking the Hearts captain’s armband and what went wrong against R…

Goalkeeper is unhappy following Ibrox events

Over the coming days, Hearts will need to demonstrate that the events at Ibrox were only a blip on the map. With their 5-0 setback in Glasgow on Saturday, their 12-game unbeaten streak came to an abrupt end as Rangers demonstrated their Premiership title credentials.

Despite making a few good save throughout the course of the ninety minutes, Hearts goalkeeper Zander Clark was still able to pluck the ball out of his net five times. There isn’t time for anyone at Riccarton to mope around with Hibs visiting Tynecastle Park on Wednesday night and Celtic on Sunday.

“The saves don’t really matter. “I’m not bothered about these things because I’d rather have made a few good saves and taken something away from the game,” Clark remarked. “The manner of the way we conceded the goals is the biggest frustration for the collective.” After Mohamed Diomande’s goal gave Rangers the lead after just one minute and seventeen seconds, Hearts continuously gave up the ball in crucial places and were unable to withstand the onslaught from the team.

Before a double from Cyriel Dessers either side of halftime, Oscar Cortes scored. Fabio Silva, a replacement, scored the sixth. “We knew the crowd would be right behind them after going top of the league last week,” said Clark. “We knew Rangers would be fierce because they played the day before Celtic, so we had to attempt to silence them. Giving up so quickly provides them an advantage, and it’s challenging for them to try and recover the game.

They were unrelenting, and as I mentioned earlier, we as a team were unable to put enough pressure on them defensively. However, we as a club must aim to reach that level and be able to provide those performances every week. I believe we are getting close.

We all recognize how upsetting Saturday was for us as a team, but we have demonstrated in recent weeks that we are capable of competing with anyone in the league. It goes without saying that we did that during our most recent visit to Ibrox, and we also performed well at Parkhead. Although Saturday represents a detour, we must ensure that we get back up and resume our regular activities.”

After Lawrence Shankland was substituted, Clark wrapped the Hearts captain’s armband over his bicep to finish the game. After 78 minutes, the striker gave off a dissatisfied look as he hobbled off to be replaced by Scott Fraser. The armband fell close to midfielder Calem Nieuwenhof as he threw it into the air. Taking it up, he handed it to Clark.

“It was one of those things that came back to me from one of the games Shanks didn’t play in last season. It wasn’t planned out in advance,” Clark remarked. “It’s not up to me if I wear it or not, that’s just what has happened when I have been on the pitch and Shanks has gone off.”

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