"That's the frustration": Hearts ace delivers 'good pressure' verdict and reveals Rangers moment that meant nothing to him

Despite taking twice the lead via goals from Marc Leonard and Braga in the first half, Derek McInnes’ men saw their lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership cut to just two points as Rangers roared back to take all three points in the second 45 as a Youssef Chermiti hat-trick and a Michael Steinwender own goal sealed the win for the hosts.

With Martin O’Neill’s Celtic side also breathing down their neck after a dramatic injury-time winner from Julian Araujo handed them a 3-2 comeback victory against Kilmarnock earlier in the day, the Tynecastle outfit is in danger of losing their position at the top of the table if they don’t turn around recent form. Despite the disappointment of defeat, the 26-year-old has backed his teammates to show their character in the weeks ahead.

“We’re still in first place,” insisted Braga. “There are still a lot of games to go. We're still in a good position. It's just frustrating, of course, when you go against a direct rival when it comes to three points, and know we could do better. To score two goals at Ibrox, that is not always easy and we still lost the game. So, that's the frustration. But we know that we can just use that for a good thing, that is to win our next game.

“I was happy at the moment [when he scored]. Right now, I would prefer to have the worst game of my life and we get the three points, to be honest. It's just frustrating to know that I scored and we could do better as a team and still didn't take the three points. I was happy when it happened. It was really good for me as a player. But right now, it means nothing, to be honest.

“It’s frustrating but we’re still in first place and there are still a lot of games to go. We have a home game now, so just need to go for that. A lot of guys talked [after the game]. We're very united in the dressing room. Everybody has a lot of confidence with each other. That's what brings us here today, and the way that we are playing. Everything else is because we give our lives for each other.”

The Portuguese frontman also addressed Rangers head coach Danny Rohl’s pre-match comments that Hearts are under as much pressure as his own side in the title race. Prior to the weekend game in Govan, the German boss claimed that Hearts were under as much scrutiny as themselves after seeing their 13-point lead reduced in recent weeks.

“We don't feel we have that pressure just because it's 40 years now, right?” smiled the striker. “So we're doing something amazing. We're proud of the work we're doing. Of course, the more (points) we can get, the better, and nobody's crazy to see that we are first since September. But the pressure, I think, is on normally the teams that win the league. We have a good pressure. We just need to enjoy it as much as we can, trying to go to games and with a good mentality win games, and we are still first place, still a lot to play for. We have good fixtures now – most of them are at home.”

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