Saturday 15 December 2018 09:29, UK
Hearts manager Craig Levein revealed his embarrassment after losing 5-0 to Livingston and said they made their hosts "look like Paris Saint-Germain".
It was still goalless until Arnaud Djoum was sent off for a second booking just after Craig Halkett's penalty opened the scoring in the 74th minute.
Dolly Menga scored a fine solo effort and Ryan Hardie netted a double as Livi scored four times in seven minutes, with Shaun Byrne compounding the misery with a fifth.
Asked to describe events at Tony Macaroni Arena, Levein said: “Horrible. Embarrassing. I just didn’t see it coming. We had things go against us in a short time frame, starting with Clevid (Dikamona) having to go off.
"We’ve got injuries at centre-half without that happening. The second half, we started reasonably well. I felt we were better than the first half.
"Then we’ve had a mad spell around the first goal when Bobby (Zlamal) has spent far too long making his mind up whether to come for the ball, and paid the penalty.
“We lose Arnaud, I thought it was harsh, but it wasn’t what led to us losing five goals. That was down to us capitulating. We made them look like Paris St Germain at times.
“Some people went in their shell and started looking after themselves. It’s embarrassing, it really is. I have to give credit to Livingston but my main concern is making sure that, for our supporters in particular, that doesn’t happen again. Because that just wasn’t acceptable.”
Livingston manager Gary Holt was delighted with his side who jumped to fifth in the Scottish Premiership, two points behind Hearts who could have gone joint-top with Celtic with a victory.
“They keep producing the intensity, it makes a great threat,” he said. “Young Scotty Pittman can run all day.
“They kept going, kept creating chances. When Hearts went down to 10, we didn’t panic, played with composure, created chances.”
