Steven Naismith insists Hearts shouldn't be fourth as he blames 'soft' goals for blowing 11 point lead over Aberdeen

Steven Naismith insists Hearts should NEVER have let third place slip after blowing an 11-point lead over Aberdeen.

The Jambos saw their hopes of catching the Dons ended on Wednesday night as Barry Robson's side swept past St Mirren to claim the best of the rest tag. Their cruise to a 3-0 win over St Mirren at Pittodrie left the capital club needing to take all three points from Ibrox to take the race to the final day.

They got off to the perfect start thanks to a first minute Lawrence Shankland goal, but Todd Cantwell and Fashion Sakala turned things around for Rangers, meaning Garang Kuol’s last gasp equaliser was too little, too late. Hearts now face an Edinburgh derby shootout on Saturday for fourth place, knowing avoiding defeat to Hibs at Tynecastle will see them earn a Europa Conference League third qualifying round berth. But Naismith reckons they should be preparing for a second successive group stage campaign and blamed “soft” goals for them missing out this time around.

He said: “It’s disappointing but the club were 11 points clear at one point and shouldn't be in this position. That is what it is.

“Since I came in we have tried to go give ourselves as good a chance as we can. We have done that but when you are relying on others that is not where you want to be, especially at a club like Hearts.

“You don't want to be relying on others to get you success, we want to do it our way and that is something we have tried to do. In the games I have been in charge of, the amount of soft goals we have conceded has not been good enough. If we don't concede a lot of them we are in a healthier position. The boys have done incredibly well to buy into what we want to do and try to and also get results along the way.”