Even Steven Naismith has hit out at the refereeing decisions that cost Hearts at least a point from their trip to Ibrox.
As a player with the old Rangers club the Hearts boss enjoyed the benefits of many honest mistakes before he refused to TUPE, joining Everton in 2012 as a free agent.
Hearts had taken the lead in the fourth minute with a header from Lawrence Shankland then survived a missed penalty from James Tavernier in the 48th minute after John Beaton had signalled for two extra minutes.
In the 87th minute there was the usual jostling from a corner for the home side, play continued with no claims for a second penalty when play was halted for an offside.
Prompted by Alan Muir on VAR duty play was halted before Beaton was called over to the VAR monitor with everyone from Ibrox to the Crown Bar in Bellshill knowing the outcome of that visit.
Speaking to the Edinburgh News after the match Naismith said:
I don’t think it’s a penalty. The full game, every corner there was blocking going on where Rangers players were not even interested in the ball. All they were doing was looking at our man, blocking our players to stop them losing their runner.
I spoke to the officials and they said if it was given a goal, it would then be given as a foul. Lo and behold, there’s a clear block on our man. John Lundstram is not interested in the ball, all he is doing is looking at our player, and he blocks him, and it gets given as VAR as a penalty.
The referee said that he was never shown any video footage of any block happening. There’s contact with our player as the ball is coming in by a Rangers player who is not interested in the ball. Clear obstruction, clear blocking, should be our foul.
VAR should see that a foul has happened before the two players make contact [for the penalty]. He said he didn’t see that far back but it’s pretty obvious, to be honest, when you look at it. And then, for the penalty in the first half, there’s two minutes added on and it gets given in the 48th minute. Small details but they have a big impact.
In the third minute of stoppage time Danilo scored with a header to give the home side full points to cut the gap at the top of the SPFL Premiership down to five points.
Perhaps if Naismith and Hearts had complained about Beaton being in charge for their fourth successive match against the Ibrox Tribute Act the match would have been handled differently.
After refereeing the Hibs v Celtic match on Saturday it was a lucrative weekend for Muir who picked up payment for watching the match at Ibrox on a monitor.
Crawford Allan and SFA apologist Gordon Duncan are unlikely to be appearing together on Sky Sports this week.
🗣️’It’s not a penalty. The outcome of the game is defined by the penalty.’
Steven Naismith says Rangers late penalty against Hearts should not have been given ⤵️#BBCFootball pic.twitter.com/K37mqbyjk0
— BBC Sport Scotland (@BBCSportScot) October 29, 2023
