Steven Naismith bemoans Hearts 'immaturity' that cost them against Rangers as he offers Macaulay Tait defence

Hearts boss Steven Naismith admitted his young side lacked the maturity to see off Rangers at Hampden.

Naismith watched on in disbelief as the Tynecastle outfit got off to a nightmare semi-final start by falling behind to a quickfire opener from Cyriel Dessers inside the opening five minutes. And the dream of a return to Hampden for the May 25 showpiece was ended when the same player struck again 13 minutes from time to seal a 2-0 win and set up an end of season showdown against Celtic.

But Naismith believes his players could have made a better fit of it had they not lost their nerve in the final third of the pitch. He said: “I’m frustrated, disappointed obviously with the outcome. That is the overriding emotion at the moment. We got off to a terrible start. We can’t be losing a cheap, early goal like we did but the reaction for me until the second goal was good.

“I thought we controlled the ball a lot better and created opportunities. And then I think what you see is our immaturity in the final third. We had four or five really good situations and we either picked the wrong option or we overhit a pass and in those moments we must hit the target or make the goalie make a save or score a goal.

“That was the biggest frustration. We had good opportunities that we didn’t take and the goals we conceded were cheap. These moments are hard to take for players. Everyone is gutted and disappointed. We got brilliant backing from 19,500 fans.

“There were some good moments in the game. The players will look back and be frustrated at the chances we give for the goals and for the opportunities that fell our way, and what they could have done.

“But the more you do something the more you learn and the better decisions you make. That is what we have to hope will happen and I really believe that.

“It is definitely an opportunity missed. If we take one of those chances and it’s 1-1 with 15 minutes to go we have the momentum. The second goal is a killer for us because at the time that it came we had 100 per cent possession and we gave it up cheaply.”

Youngster Macaulay Tait came off the bench and was robbed of possession in the build up to the decisive Dessers goal. And Naismith said: “It was a big moment. It is a big moment for him. He will learn from it.

“He is the type of character that’ll learn from it. He is someone who has played in the Scottish Cup semi-final at 17-18, what I liked after that is that he still wanted the ball, was still going forward and still played the forward passes.That will make him better.

“But he’ll be the first to look at it and say, ‘I should have played the pass or I should have taken my time on the ball,’. But that’s football. It’s about the small margins. We’ll look over it as we always do and there will be frustrations and there will be disappointments. There will definitely be parts to learn from.

“I need to give the squad a lot of credit because they are a young squad - the second youngest in Scotland. What we are asking them to do is to be brave and be high risk at times. But the rewards are good. It was just in the last part of the pitch today where we couldn’t score a goal which would have changed the dynamic of the game.”