Hearts donate £3000 to Hamilton Accies after pyro damages New Douglas Park pitch

Hearts have donated £3000 to Hamilton Accies to say sorry for the damage fans caused to the New Douglas Park pitch in last week's Scottish Cup clash.

During the clash on February 10, which the Jambos won 2-0, fans launched a smoke bomb onto the field of play after Stephen Humphrys opened the scoring in the first half.

The pyrotechnics scorched the artificial surface and now, by way of apology, Hearts' chief executive Andrew McKinlay has announced that they made a donation of £3k to Hamilton's youth academy. Seats in the away section were also damaged during the fifth round tie.

In a statement, McKinlay said: "To take last week’s game at Hamilton into isolation, the atmosphere created by our fans on Friday night was incredible.

"There were, unfortunately, some needless scenes created by the throwing of pyrotechnics onto the pitch.

"It would be remiss of me not to point out that this is unacceptable, and these incidents caused considerable damage to Accies’ synthetic surface.

"Such was the damage to the pitch and to some seats in the away section, the club has donated £3,000 to Hamilton’s youth academy both by way of apology and as a gesture of goodwill.

"The use of pyro has also seen us fined by UEFA this season and as such, I must implore fans not to bring these dangerous items to any Hearts game.

“With the team once again third in the league and in the latter stages of the Scottish Cup, and pushing for European football, it could be argued that there has never been a better time to be a Hearts fan. What cannot be argued is the vitally important part that our supporters are playing in helping to drive this club forward to another level.

“On behalf of everyone at Hearts, I thank you for your support and we all look