Zander Clark explains taking the Hearts captain's armband and what went wrong against Rangers

Goalkeeper is dejected after events at Ibrox

The challenge for Hearts over the next few days is to prove events at Ibrox were nothing more than a bump in the road. Their 12-game unbeaten run came to a shuddering halt with Saturday's 5-0 loss in Glasgow as Rangers exemplified their Premiership title credentials.

Zander Clark, the Hearts goalkeeper, made several decent saves throughout the 90 minutes but still picked the ball out of his net five times. With Hibs visiting Tynecastle Park on Wednesday evening followed by Celtic on Sunday, there is no time for anyone at Riccarton to mope around.

"The saves are immaterial. I'd rather have made a few good saves and taken something from the game so I am not bothered about these things," said Clark. "The manner of the way we conceded the goals is the biggest frustration for the collective." Hearts repeatedly surrendered possession in key areas and could not deal with the Rangers onslaught after losing the opening goal to Mohamed Diomande after just one minute and 17 seconds.

Oscar Cortes scored before a Cyriel Dessers double either side of half-time. Substitute Fabio Silva added the fifth. "We knew the crowd would be right behind them after going top of the league last week," explained Clark. "With Rangers playing the day before Celtic, we knew they would be right at it and we needed to try and silence them. Conceding so early on gives them an added lift and it’s a difficult one to try and get a foothold in the game.

"They were relentless and as I say we did not stand up to it in terms of a defensive collective as a team in terms of getting pressure on them. But that’s the level we as a club need to strive to get to and be able to turn in those performances week in and week out. I think we are almost there.

READ MORE: Hearts' plan of attack against Hibs

"As a collective we know how disappointing Saturday was from us but in the previous weeks we have shown we can compete with anyone in the league. Obviously we did that the last time we were at Ibrox and we have been to Parkhead, where we played well. Saturday is a bump in the road but we need to make sure we pick ourselves up and get back to what we have been doing."

Clark finished the match with the Hearts captain's armband around his bicep following Lawrence Shankland's substitution. The striker cut a frustrated figure trudging off to be replaced by Scott Fraser after 78 minutes. He threw the armband in the air and it landed near midfielder Calem Nieuwenhof. He picked it up and passed it on to Clark.

"I got it last season in one of the games Shanks didn’t play in and it’s just one of those, it found its way back to me. It was not pre-arranged," said Clark. "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."