Robbo: I saved Ramon from a red

MARK BONTHRONE

HEARTS boss John Robertson revealed today that he substituted striker Ramon Pereira to prevent him being sent off against Aberdeen at Pittodrie.

The Spaniard was furious in the second half when referee Stuart Dougal failed to award the Jambos a goal when Robbie Neilson’s header from a Jamie McAllister corner looked to have crossed the line.

Dons defender Kevin McNaughton appeared to knock the ball back out of the net with his hand and received his marching orders as the visitors were awarded a penalty, but Pereira felt the ‘goal’ should have stood.

He raced over to the linesman, who had initially signalled that the ball had crossed the line, and remonstrated furiously with him but his over zealous protests only resulted in a booking.

When the furore had died down Paul Hartley duly dispatched the spot kick but Pereira was hauled off to be replaced by Graham Weir.

And Roberston revealed he felt he had no option but to replace the fiery frontman in case he was sent off. "Ramon’s a very emotional character," said Robertson. "He was more concerned that the ball had already crossed the line but in situations like that when the opposition is down to ten men it’s important that we keep 11 on the park.

"We took him off to get him to calm down a wee bit. It’s great having emotion in football, I tend to get a bit worked up myself at times, but for the sake of the team and for Ramon it was better to remove him."

The 1-0 win over the Dons was Robertson’s first as Hearts boss following last week’s 1-0 defeat at the hands of German giants Schalke. And he feels the win kicks into touch suggestions that the club has not enjoyed the best of starts to the campaign.

"I’ve heard from various people that Hearts have had a so-called stuttering start to the season but that’s us in third place. We are moving up the table in the right direction and that’s what we want to keep doing.

"A lot of teams have made very good starts. The likes of Aberdeen, Hibs and Kilmarnock have all started well and this result gets us back in the thick of things. If Aberdeen had beaten us they would have opened up a six-point gap and there would have been a lot of chasing to do so it was a good victory.

"What people have to take into account as well is that against a top quality side in Schalke the players played 40 minutes with just ten men when we were really chasing the ball. It’s a credit to the players that they managed to put in another 90 minutes of sheer effort."

Meanwhile, the under-19s progressed to the next round of the SFA Youth Cup with a 2-0 victory over Hamilton at New Douglas Park yesterday.

The wee Jambos’ goals came from Dennis McLaughlin and Marco Pelosi.

Coach John McGlynn said: "We did not have the best of starts but we got in front just before half-time and we did much better in the second-half.

"In the end I felt that we deserved to win the match."

Taken from the Scotsman