Inverness CT 1-1 Hearts

Frank Gilfeather at Pittodrie

HEARTS defender Andy Webster last night denied he had stamped on Inverness striker Graham Bayne in an off-the-ball incident and said referee, Calum Murray, got it wrong when he showed him a red card just after the half-hour mark.
Webster’s red card followed a tackle on Bayne which saw both players crash into the Hearts dugout. The incident was one of a number of flashpoints in an ill-tempered affair which saw five bookings and two penalties as well as the ordering off.

Hearts manager John Robertson was scathing in his post-match comments on the incident.

“The two players crashed into the dugout and had a kick at each other and that’s all there was to it,” he said. “One got a red, one got nothing. The referee must have seen something nobody else in the ground did. The fourth official saw nothing. The linesman saw nothing. The referee saw something else but that’s his prerogative. He makes the decisions and he’s 100% right again.”

“I certainly didn’t stamp on Bayne,” said Webster. “The momentum of the challenge took him into the wall. I may have kicked him by mistake but I didn’t stamp on him. The referee has obviously taken a view on it and there’s no point in arguing with him. But I’m not a dirty player. I’ve only been booked once in 31 games.”

The Scotland international centre-back made those points to Bayne after the game and the Inverness striker accepted his version of events.

“I spoke with him in the corridor. He told me the momentum of the challenge had seen him take me out of play. At first I thought it was intentional but he told me it wasn’t and I’m willing to accept that,” Bayne said.

The clash threatened to spoil a game in which both sides were highly committed, even though there were a number of other incidents which kept the referee busy.

Murray booked Liam Keogh, Mark Brown and Stuart Golabek for Inverness and the Hearts players Patrick Kisnorbo and Graham Weir and had to step in to suppress one or two other potential problems.

Paul Hartley for Hearts and Juanjo for Inverness were the spot kick scorers. Both managers suggested Murray, perhaps recognising that the opening penalty kick award to Hearts was on the soft side, tried to even up the situation by awarding Caley Thistle theirs a few minutes later when Juanjo was judged to have been pushed in the back by Michael Stewart. The little Spaniard has been in outstanding form for the Highlanders this season.

A mistake early in the second half by Ross Tokely when he lost the ball on the half-way line to Joe Hamill almost brought a Hearts goal, substitute Weir racing on to his team-mates pass but failing even to hit the target with only Brown to beat.

The Tynecastle man, however, was at the centre of the incident which led to his team’s goal in the 61st minute. Reacting quickly to an attempt by Golabek to header the ball back to his keeper – it fell woefully short – Weir looked a good bet to score until he was brought down by Brown who, as well as being shown a yellow card for his action, had to pick Paul Hartley’s resultant penalty kick out of the back of the net.

Caley Thistle’s equaliser six minutes later was no more than they deserved with Brewster admitting that the award was soft, a claim with which Robertson did not agree.

“I looked over at Robbo and smiled,” he said, “and he looked back and growled.” Juanjo remained unruffled, though, as he hit the penalty kick home.

Taken from the Sunday Herald