COPENHAGEN 2 HEARTS 0: Critchley’s men are outclassed in Copenhagen as Hearts’ hopes hang on final game

Hearts boss Neil Critchley admitted his side suffered as they failed to lay a glove on their impressive Danish hosts, leaving Hearts’ hopes of progress in the Conference League resting on their final game.

Amin Chiakha opened the scoring just after the break and Craig Gordon kept Hearts in the game before being penalised with a controversial penalty award.

Kevin Diks netted from 12 yards in the 78th minute to seal three points which moved the Danish league leaders above Critchley’s side in the table.

Hearts have now lost three consecutive games in the competition after winning their opening two matches. They remain in a play-off position but will likely need a positive result in their final fixture at home to struggling Moldovan side Petrocub next Thursday.

Critchley conceded his team were miles off the standard set by Copenhagen but was unhappy at the penalty award that denied his team the opportunity to fight for a point late on.

‘I think you just have to hold your hands up sometimes and say the better team won,’ said Critchley. ‘They were the best team we’ve played in this competition, I think that was evident on the pitch.

Craig Gordon vents his frustration at Hearts goalkeeping coach Paul Gallacher at full-time

Penalty specialist Kevin Diks converts from 12 yards after the controversial spot-kick award

Amin Chiakha celebrates after opening the scoring shortly after the half-time interval

‘We came with the plan to try and have a go, but when you’re playing against very technical players, it’s hard to pick those moments when to go and, when we did, they picked us off which can then unnerve the players.

‘They got into our penalty box too many times. We had some moments where we were wasteful, but we were still in the game at 1-0.

‘We had a plan and we were just on the cusp of doing that, to have a right go at the end of the game, when a really poor decision took that opportunity away.

‘If we thought we were going to come here and they wouldn’t have chances, we’d be mistaken. You need a bit of luck and fortune — we had that when it hit the bar in the first half, we didn’t for the penalty decision. You need those things to go your way.

‘In these games, all your limitations get exposed. Technical, physical, intelligence. At times, we found it difficult.’

Copenhagen had knocked out Kilmarnock in the qualifiers and they imposed themselves on the game early on.

There were two scares for Hearts around the 10-minute mark, both of them coming from Brazilians. Gabriel Pereira was allowed a free header but could not keep it down and Gordon denied Robert with his foot.

Robert and Mohamed Elyounoussi were both causing problems and the former Celtic winger almost got on the end of a return pass in front of goal only for James Penrice to get in ahead and knock the ball to safety, although only off the crossbar.

Critchley conceded his side had been outclassed against their experienced Danish hosts

Hearts escaped a decent penalty claim when Frankie Kent bundled Chiakha over with his arm but the challenge came at a cost as the defender injured himself in the fall and hobbled off in apparent pain.

A concerned Critchley conceded the injury was a worry, saying: ‘It is his quad, but it’s too early to say. It’s not ideal, we’re becoming stretched in that position.’

The half ended without Hearts managing a shot at goal and only managing one touch in the opposition box.

The Danes made their superiority count in the 48th minute. Right-back Diks dribbled his way into the box and set up Elyounoussi, whose shot was brilliantly saved by Gordon. The rebound broke for Chiakha to knock home from close range and the goal was given following a lengthy VAR check for offside. The striker was ahead of the Hearts defence but just behind the ball when Elyounoussi shot.

Copenhagen would have been out of sight in the subsequent five minutes had it not been for the brilliance of Gordon. The 41-year-old stopped Thomas Delaney’s close-range header with his foot before throwing himself at Chiakha’s goal-bound effort from 10 yards.

Hearts really struggled to give their 3,000 travelling fans anything to shout about. Their only shot at goal came from Cammy Devlin and was deflected well wide. The closest they came was when Copenhagen defender Pantelis Hatzidiakos glanced a header on to roof of his own net from Penrice’s corner.

Danish international Thomas Delaney gets above Cammy Devlin to head clear

Any hope the visitors had of sneaking a result was extinguished when Italian referee Fabio Maresca pointed to the spot after being shown very limited footage of a collision between Chiakha and Gordon.

The 18-year-old got his toe to the ball before Gordon got his hands to it, with the forward then running into the Hearts goalkeeper. The referee had initially blown for a free-kick to the visitors and completely reversed his decision after a brief watch on the touchline.

Diks sent Gordon the wrong way from the spot and the game drifted to a conclusion.

On the spot-kick, Critchley said: ‘I don’t at all think it’s a penalty. It’s a natural coming together, you can’t make players disappear. Both players get a touch on the ball. It was a really bad decision.’