The 2018–19 season was the 138th season of competitive football by Heart of Midlothian (Hearts) with the team participating in the Scottish Premiership. Hearts were playing their fourth consecutive season in the top tier of Scottish football, having been promoted from the Scottish Championship at the end of the 2014–15 season. They reached the Semi-final of the Scottish League Cup and reached the Final of the Scottish Cup.
Results and fixtures
Friendlies Hearts returned for pre-season training on 21 June, with the first preseason friendly scheduled to take place against Arbroath at the start of July. Further preseason friendlies were played against Dumbarton, Partick Thistle, Queen of the South and Forfar Athletic. A scheduled trip to Germany for a training camp was cancelled.
During the winter break Hearts travelled to Murcia for a five-day training camp, playing a bounce game against Lokeren.
Premiership
The Scottish Premiership fixture list was announced on 15 June 2018. Hearts began the season with a 4–1 away victory against Hamilton Academical at New Douglas Park.
For upcoming Scottish Premiership fixtures, see the official Heart of Midlothian F.C. website
Scottish Cup
Heart of Midlothian entered the competition in the fourth round of competition as one of the sixteens teams to enter in this round of the competition. Their first opponent was at Tynecastle Park to Premiership side Livingston where a goal from Sean Clare saw the team win the match 1–0.
In the fifth round they was drawn against Junior club Auchinleck Talbot at home who had knocked out a Championship side in the previous round. The match saw four different goal scorers with Christophe Berra scoring the opener in the tenth minute of play. Two more goals from Demetri Mitchell and Steven MacLean opened the gap to three goals before the break. A goal in the second half from Aidan Keena secured the 4–0 win but not before an injury forced them down to ten men for the final twelve minutes.
The quarter final saw the team travel to Firhill Stadium for the match against Championship side Partick Thistle. After an early goal from Christophe Berra, the team dominated the game with 59% of the possession. The tie though headed into a replay after Christie Elliott scored to level the match in the 72nd minute. The replay at Tyncastle Park saw the away team getting the opening goal in the 17th minute from a Scott McDonald tap to give the championship side the early lead. But a goal from Uche Ikpeazu and the penalty conversation from Sean Clare saw Hearts qualify for the semi-final.
For Hearts, this meant a semi final with another Championship side in Inverness in the first of two matches at Hampden Park. After a lacklustre first half, Uche Ikpeazu broke deadlock for the Hearts in the 49th minute with the shot coming off a deflection. After Jamie McCart goal was deemed offside in the 61st minute, John Souttar doubled the lead only four minutes later. Sean Clarke gave Hearts a 3–0 victory after Ikpeazu was brought down by Mark Ridgers to give a penalty which was converted.
League Cup
Having not qualified for Europe Hearts entered the League Cup at the group stages. On 25 May, Hearts were drawn in Group C, alongside Cove Rangers, Cowdenbeath, Inverness Caledonian Thistle and Raith Rovers. On 18 July 2018, Hearts played Cove Rangers, which marked the first competitive match at Balmoral Stadium. Olly Lee opened the scoring after 11 minutes, before fellow debutante Steven MacLean doubled the advantage in the second half. Cove pulled one back via Paul McManus with 15 minutes remaining, but were unable to equalise. During the 65th minute of the match Andrew Irving entered the field of play, replacing Olly Lee. Irving's contract extension had not been correctly lodged with the Scottish Football Association, rendering him ineligible to play as his registration expired on 9 June. An SPFL disciplinary hearing took place on Monday 23 July, as a result of which Hearts were deducted two points from the group stages and fined £10,000, with £8,000 of the fine suspended until the end of the next season.
Hearts next group match was against Raith Rovers. Kevin Nisbet opened the scoring early in the second half for the home side, before Michael Smith equalised from 25 yards out. In the 90th minute Christophe Berra had a goal disallowed for impeding the keeper, however replays showed the foul was committed by a fellow Raith player. With the sides level at 1–1 penalties were taken, with Hearts taking the bonus point 4–2 on penalties. The group stage was wound up with two 5 – 0 wins at Tynecastle Park against Cowdenbeath and Inverness Caledonian Thistle, with goals from Steven MacLean, Uche Ikpeazu, Peter Haring, Steven Naismith, Michael Smith and Ben Garuccio. The result against Inverness meant Hearts qualified to the Second round on goal difference. Group stage
Knockout stage
First team player statistics
Captains Christophe Berra continued as captain for season 2018–19, having been re-appointed as captain the previous season. Only six games into the season Berra suffered a torn hamstring at Tynecastle against Celtic, ruling himself out for a period of around 6 months. In his absence three other players were given the opportunity to captain Hearts. Fellow defender John Souttar was initially appointed captain in his absence at the age of 21, however whilst on international duty with Scotland Souttar injured the lining of his hip and was ruled out for five months. With Berra and Souttar injured Steven Naismith took the captain's armband for the first time against Aberdeen on 20 October 2018. Naismith's stint as Captain lasted just three games, as he suffered a tear in the cartilage in his knee during the League Cup Semi-final and was ruled out for a period of six to eight weeks. This led to Peter Haring becoming the fourth player of the season to play as captain.
Berra returned as captain earlier than anticipated on 2 December versus Rangers. {| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%; text-align: center;" |- ! style="background:maroon; color:white;" scope="col" width=60|No ! style="background:maroon; color:white;" scope="col" width=60|Pos ! style="background:maroon; color:white;" scope="col" width=60|Country ! style="background:maroon; color:white;" scope="col" width=150|Name ! style="background:maroon; color:white;" scope="col" width=80|No of games ! style="background:maroon; color:white;" scope="col" width=80|Notes |- |6||DF||||Berra||35||Captain |- |4||DF||||Souttar||9||Vice Captain |- |5||DF||||Haring||4||Vice Captain |- |14||FW||||Naismith||3||Vice Captain
Squad information During the 2018–19 season, Hearts have used thirty-five players in competitive games. The table below shows the number of appearances and goals scored by each player. Last Updated 25 May 2019 {| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%; text-align: center;" |- ! style="background:maroon; color:white;" rowspan="2" width=60 | Number ! style="background:maroon; color:white;" rowspan="2" width=60 | Position ! style="background:maroon; color:white;" rowspan="2" width=60 | Nation ! style="background:maroon; color:white;" rowspan="2" width=150 | Name ! style="background:maroon; color:white;" colspan="2" | Totals ! style="background:maroon; color:white;" colspan="2" | Premiership ! style="background:maroon; color:white;" colspan="2" | League Cup ! style="background:maroon; color:white;" colspan="2" | Scottish Cup |- ! style="background:maroon; color:white;" width=60 |Apps ! style="background:maroon; color:white;" width=60 |Goals ! style="background:maroon; color:white;" width=60 |Apps ! style="background:maroon; color:white;" width=60 |Goals ! style="background:maroon; color:white;" width=60 |Apps ! style="background:maroon; color:white;" width=60 |Goals ! style="background:maroon; color:white;" width=60 |Apps ! style="background:maroon; color:white;" width=60 |Goals
! colspan=16 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center| Players who left club during the season
Appearances (starts and substitute appearances) and goals include those in Scottish Premiership, League Cup and the Scottish Cup.
Disciplinary record During the 2018–19 season, Hearts players have been issued with ninety-five yellow cards and five red. The table below shows the number of cards and type shown to each player. In addition striker Steven MacLean accepted a retrospective two match ban for violent conduct against Celtic's Eboue Kouassi in the League Cup. Having gone over the SFA disciplinary points threshold, Steven Naismith served a one-match ban.
A yellow card issued for simulation to Uche Ikpeazu during the game versus Aberdeen on 30 March 2019, was rescinded on appeal. Last updated 25 May 2019 NumberPositionNationNamePremiershipLeague CupScottish CupTotal1 GK Zdenek Zlamal 300010402 DF Michael Smith 710000713 DF Jimmy Dunne 100000104 DF John Souttar 101010305 DF Peter Haring 701000806 DF Christophe Berra 300000307 MF Oliver Bozanic 200000208 MF Olly Lee 200000209 FW Kyle Lafferty 100000109 MF Sean Clare 7000007010 MF Arnaud Djoum 131102016111 DF Demetri Mitchell 3110105114 FW Steven Naismith 8000008015 FW Craig Wighton 1000001017 DF Ben Garuccio 5100005118 FW Steven MacLean 4010005019 FW Uche Ikpeazu 4010005022 MF Ryan Edwards 1000001023 MF Jake Mulraney 1000001025 MF Jamie Brandon 0100000126 DF Marcus Godinho 3000003028 DF Clévid Dikamona 2000002031 FW Bobby Burns 2000002032 FW David Vaněček 1000001038 MF Callumn Morrison 1000001051 MF Aaron Hickey 10000010 Total8456030955
Goal scorers Last updated 25 May 2019 PlacePositionNationNamePremiershipLeague CupScottish CupTotal1FWSteven Naismith1040142FWUche Ikpeazu33283MFPeter Haring5207FWSteven MacLean33174MFOlly Lee3306DFSean Clare30365MFArnaud Djoum3003MFOliver Bozanic30036DFMichael Smith0202DFJimmy Dunne2002DFChristophe Berra00227FWKyle Lafferty1001DFBen Garuccio0101DFMarcus Godinho1001MFCallumn Morrison1001FWAidan Keena0011DFDemetri Mitchell0011DFClévid Dikamona1001DFJohn Souttar0011DFBobby Burns1001MFJake Mulraney1001MFRyan Edwards0011 Total41181271
Clean sheets {| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%; text-align: center;" |- ! style="background:maroon; color:white;" scope="col" width=60| ! style="background:maroon; color:white;" scope="col" width=60| ! style="background:maroon; color:white;" scope="col" width=60| ! style="background:maroon; color:white;" scope="col" width=150|Name ! style="background:maroon; color:white;" scope="col" width=90|Premiership ! style="background:maroon; color:white;" scope="col" width=90|League Cup ! style="background:maroon; color:white;" scope="col" width=90|Scottish Cup ! style="background:maroon; color:white;" scope="col" width=90|Total |- |1 |GK | |Zdenek Zlamal |8 |3 |1 |12 |- |2 |GK | |Colin Doyle |4 |0 |2 |6 |- ! colspan=4 | Total !12||3||3||18
Team statistics
League table
League Cup table
Division summary
Management statistics Last updated on 25 May 2019 NameFromToPWDLWin%
Home attendances Last updated on 25 May 2019
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center; font-size:90%" |- ! style="background:maroon; color:white;" scope="col" width=100 | Comp ! style="background:maroon; color:white;" scope="col" width=120 | Date ! style="background:maroon; color:white;" scope="col" width=60 | Score ! style="background:maroon; color:white;" scope="col" width=250 class="unsortable" | Opponent ! style="background:maroon; color:white;" scope="col" width=150 | Attendance |- |League Cup||24 July 2018||bgcolor="#CCFFCC"|5–0 ||Cowdenbeath||7,486 |- |League Cup||29 July 2018||bgcolor="#CCFFCC"|5–0 ||Inverness Caledonian Thistle||10,030 |- |Premiership||11 August 2018||bgcolor="#CCFFCC"|1–0 ||Celtic||19,113 |- |Premiership||1 September 2018||bgcolor="#CCFFCC"|4–1 ||St Mirren||17,714 |- |Premiership||22 September 2018||bgcolor="#FFFFCC"|0–0 ||Livingston||17,798 |- |League Cup||26 September 2018||bgcolor="#CCFFCC"|4–2 ||Motherwell||14,377 |-