Livingston captain Nicky Devlin 'proud' despite Scottish Cup exit to Hearts

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Livingston skipper Nicky Devlin says he ‘proud’ of his team-mates despite their Scottish Cup exit.The Lions produced a typically resolute and determined display away to Hearts but ultimately exited at the last-16 stage on penalties following a 0-0 draw at Tynecastle.Cristian Montano and Ayo Obileye missed their spot-kicks while the hosts were perfect to seal a 4-3 win and leaving Livi waiting for their first quarter-final berth since 2005.Devlin, who turned in an exceptional performance with numerous key blocks and tackles over the course of the two hours, said: “Losing on penalties is always tough but I’m proud of every one of them.“We’ve come to without doubt the third best team in the country by a long shot and for 120 minutes they could not break us down.“We probably created the two or three better chances in the game.

We can take a lot of confidence for it and when we reflect, it was a good performance.”Despite Hearts controlling much of the possession, it was the visitors who created the better chances.Bruce Anderson saw his early effort saved by Craig Gordon when had he looked up he would have spotted the unmarked Joel Nouble at the back post while they went close to breaking the deadlock twice in the second half.Scott Pittman saw his deflected effort bounce back off the post on 73 minutes before neat play down the left flank led to Montano rolling the ball into the net - only for an offside in the build up ruling that out.The howling wind and torrential rain made conditions difficult and the Lions did well to prevent Hearts from playing free-flowing football or getting any kind of rhythm.They would still test Max Stryjek on several occasions, though, with the Polish stopper proving more than a match for anything