Unacceptable. Aberdeen vice-captain Mark Reynolds apologised to supporters for his side’s poor display after the Dons’ Scottish Cup hopes were extinguished by Hearts at Tynecastle on Saturday.
Derek McInnes’ Reds were made to pay for a woeful first-half showing in Edinburgh as defeat left hopes of winning silverware this season hinging on the enormous task of overhauling champions Celtic in the Scottish Premiership.
Reynolds, captain in the absence of injured midfielder Ryan Jack, knows he and his team-mates failed to perform in the capital as they were beaten 1-0 by the Jambos.
He said: “There are ways of going out of a cup and our first-half performance was unacceptable. We’ve let ourselves down, the manager, the assistant manager and the supporters. Not many teams travel in poor conditions with 3,500 supporters travelling as far as that.
“We’ve let everyone down and that’s the third time in a row we’ve gone out at the first hurdle, which, for a club the size of Aberdeen and with the players we’ve got, is unacceptable.
“The biggest thing for us is we let Hearts outfight us and outwork us and that should never be the case.”
Reynolds was at a loss to explain his side’s poor first-half display in such a pivotal game in the club’s season which was compounded by the loss of midfielder Willo Flood for the next four to six weeks with a hamstring strain.
Reynolds said: “It was not like us and it was not good enough. It leaves us with just the league to concentrate on and it was very disappointing.
“I’ve no idea where it came from. We never got started and lost an early goal from a set-piece which has been happening a lot this season and we never recovered from that.
“At half-time we regrouped and came out and looked more like us. Had we started the game that way it could have been a better cup tie.
“There was no need for strong words. It was one of those one games where any one of us would have been kidding ourselves on we were playing well.
“We knew it was going to be tough to come back on a tight pitch against a team with a lead to defend and it was disappointing.”
The match ended with anger in both camps, with manager McInnes instructing his players not to return the ball after Hearts had kicked it out due to Alim Ozturk suffering from cramp.
Hearts were unhappy with the decision but Reynolds believes his side’s stance was justified.
“People choose to play football that way and they were trying to kill the game and preserve their lead,” he said.
“It was frustrating for us as we were chasing a goal but we left it too late.
“It wasn’t time-wasting. The player went down with cramp, that’s not an injury, it’s a lack of fitness. That’s why we didn’t give the ball back.”