8.30pm

Didn't make it to Tynecastle for today's game (ah, the joys of married life), but it sounds like we were very unfortunate to lose.  From the snippets I've picked up, it sounds as though Hearts had slightly the better of the first half and took the lead through McKenna after 30 mins.  However, we came back into the game after this and seemingly had a stonewall penalty turned down when McFadden was fouled in the box.  Apparently the second half was dominated by Motherwell, and we deservedly equalised when Keith Lasley flicked the ball over Mahe before blasting a half-volley past the Hearts goalkeeper.  We had the home side on the ropes at this point and missed chance after chance, only to be hit on the break after 71 mins when Stamp crossed for Simmons to score an undeserved winner.  Full time: 2-1 to Hearts.

I suppose a defeat today wasn't entirely unexpected and at least we can take heart (ouch!) from the performance, but I guess we only have ourselves to blame for not taking our chances.  To make matters worse, Dundee Utd beat Dunfermline 3-0 to draw level on points with us, and St Johnstone moved even closer to the top of the First Division when they took full advantage of Falkirk's surprise defeat against QoS.  I suppose that after all the talk of cup semi-finals it really is back down to earth!

Terry Butcher's comments to the press after the game were as follows:
"We made a lot of chances today, we dominated the second half and put Hearts under pressure but if you don’t score when you are on top you’ll end ruing the misses. Hearts hit us with a sucker punch when we were on top."

When asked about our first-half penalty claim, TB added:
"I am not saying anything about the referee – but you all saw it!"

It seems as though the Celtic game will not now be played until April!

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