Craig Gordon confident Hearts would have beaten Aberdeen (2025)

The veteran keeper fancied the Jambos to get the job done on penalties had Neil Critchley''s side been able to battle on with ten men

Craig Gordon is confident ten-man Hearts would have gone on to beat Aberdeen on penalties, but John Beaton reducing the Jambos to nine KILLED them.

With the score at 1-1 after a Gordon OG and Lawrence Shakland’s equaliser, Michael Steinwender was shown a straight red for wiping out Topi Keskinen as he was about to race through on goal.

After a swift VAR check, the Austrian was sent packing by John Beaton and that forced Neil Critchley into a half-time reshuffle.

The plan was clear; two strikers in James Wilson and Elton Kabangu off, centre backs Craig Halkett and Frankie Kent on in a bid to take the game to spot kicks. And it was just a couple of minutes from working as well.

However, Devlin - already on a yellow for a challenge on Shayden Morris that came as the officials swithered over an offside call against the Dons winger, went to boot the ball clear after cross was cleared to the edge of the area.

The Aussie however, didn’t see Dante Polvara over his shoulder and caught the midfielder as he swung for the ball.

Beaton went to his pocket for a second yellow and Devlin was dismissed, although the consensus was that a foul was punishment enough.

Jimmy Thelin’s team, who had struggled to create all that much against ten, exploited the space that opened up and attacked down the side Devlin had been defending, with Oday Dabbagh sweeping home the rebound to book a final spot after a smart Gordon save.

The veteran keeper and his teammates were less than pleased with Beaton afterwards, although chose their words carefully

"I thought we did enough, and we would have done if we'd stayed at 10 [men],” said Gordon. "I think going down to nine has killed us. I can't believe that's a second yellow card.

"For everything that's gone in that game, for that to be a yellow card...

"It's killed us. The second goal comes from the area Cammy's been defending.

"Nobody's even asking for a second yellow card for that.

"That's a massive reason why we haven't managed to take it to pens.

“We were good in terms of how we kept our shape and how we managed to stay in the game for a long period of time, and looked like we'd done enough to get through to penalties, where I felt we would go on and win the game.

"I felt confident going into that, I'd made some saves in the game, I think the pressure would have been on Aberdeen.

"I was looking forward to it but we didn't manage to see out the last few minutes.

"I'm not going to come here and slate the referee's performance, that's up to him. They'll look back at their performance and evaluate it.

"We've got to do what we can do, and I think our performance was as good as we could have done in the circumstances.

"I think we've been let down a little bit by that but all we can do is focus on ourselves.”

Devlin had to be ushered up the tunnel from a prone position after the red, and he cut a solemn figure and he walked through the post match media mixed zone.

“Yeah he is [gutted]. He's going to be involved in so many of those tussles throughout the game.

"There might be fouls either way, but when two players go in with their feet high, I think it's a soft foul.

"It could quite easily have gone the other way, he's kicked the bottom of his foot and it's a difficult one to take.

"They both clashed together at the edge of the box and the referee has seen it as a free kick, and the referee has seen enough to give a red card.

"I don't think it was a bad foul, I don't think it was stopping a dangerous attack, I don't know quite what it fits into to be another yellow card.

"Maybe a foul, but these fouls happen 30-40 times a game, all over the place.”

Despite his plan almost working, it’s another game of consequence Critchley hasn’t won as Hearts boss and fans have just about lost patience.

But Gordon insists there was little more anyone in maroon could have done at Hampden. He said: "I think we gave everything we could today, every player who was on that pitch has given everything to try and get through today.

"I think that shows that the group is very much together and trying to do the best they can. It's hard not to feel hard done by today.”

42-year-old Gordon has a matter of weeks left on his Hearts contract. After second choice Zander Clark penned a two-year contract extension, the Gorgie rumour mill has Gordon retiring at the end of the season.

But he shed little light on whether that would be his last appearance at the national stadium - for club or country.

When asked if there was any update on his future, he added: "No, nothing, just playing as many games as I can until the end of the season and see what happens.”

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