'Criminal' - What Alloa boss Peter Grant had to say after 3-0 Hearts defeat

Alloa Athletic manager Peter Grant knows his team will need to stop conceding “criminal” goals when they take on Hearts for the second time this week on Saturday.

The Wasps welcome Robbie Neilson’s men to the Indodrill Stadium this weekend for a last-16 Betfred Cup tie, hot on the heels of the clubs’ Championship meeting on Tuesday night, which Hearts won 3-0.

The Jambos scored their goals within the first 37 minutes and Grant was left dismayed by the manner of the strikes.

“You can’t concede goals the way we do, that’s a fact,” said Grant. “Yet again, we have a lot of good stuff but you can’t defend the indefensible and the goals we lost were criminal. That’s what cost us dearly.

Alloa Athletic boss Peter Grant.

“Apart from the first five minutes when we were trying to find our feet a little bit, we started to get a grip of it and control it a little in the middle.

“Then all of a sudden, we find ourselves three down. Then it’s an uphill struggle.”

Grant, however, was heartened by Alloa’s second-half performance at Tynecastle as his players refused to give in despite being under constant pressure.

“We never crumbled and it’s easy to do that against a very experienced group of players,” added Grant. “I’ve got to give them great credit for that in the second half.

Alloa hope to have midfielder Jon Robertson available for Saturday’s match. He went off early in the second half with a hamstring complaint and will be assessed.

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