ROBERTSON DEFENDS MIKOLIUNAS

Hearts head coach John Robertson has defended Saulius Mikoliunas for his hot-headed jostling of an assistant referee during his side's controversial 2-1 defeat by Rangers.

But Robertson also expects the Lithuanian to be heavily punished by the authorities for his part in a stormy ending to the match.

Mikoliunas was shown a red card by referee Hugh Dallas after he aggressively confronted linesman Andy Davis, who had persuaded the official to award Rangers a stoppage-time penalty.

Even Rangers manager Alex McLeish admitted afterwards it had been a soft decision, with captain Fernando Ricksen calmly converting it.

Just minutes earlier, Mark Burchill had equalised Nacho Novo's opener. and Robertson was adamant there were mitigating circumstances for his player.

He said: "Mikoliunas has thrown his chest against the assistant referee's chest and got a red card for it.

"Unfortunately he has also sworn at Hugh Dallas so it could be a double red card for him.

"But people have got to take into account why he was incensed. Why were 10,000 Hearts fans incensed tonight?

"Why did nobody from the Rangers bench claim for a penalty kick?

"The officials have got to take into account the fact that he is a young lad and there were mitigating circumstances."

Rangers striker Dado Prso was another red card victim of the penalty incident, which saw Rangers defender Sotirios Kyrgiakos claim he had been impeded by Hearts striker Lee Miller.

He was shown a second yellow for an over-zealous attempt to wrestle the ball from goalkeeper Craig Gordon's grasp, with the Scotland international ending up on the turf.

Robertson insisted Greece international defender Kyrkiakos had already had a penalty decision go his way and praised his own players for their performances.

He said: "We hammered Rangers in the first half. We played really well but we got caught napping at the start of the second half when Rangers scored with their first attack.

"But we refused to give in and we had a stonewall penalty denied us when Andy Webster was going for a flick-on and was wiped out by Kyrgiakos on the six-yard line.

"We thoroughly deserved a point."

Hearts must have thought they had bagged exactly that when substitute Burchill netted an equaliser with just three minutes remaining.

The former Celtic striker was presented with a simple tap-in after a Paul Hartley free-kick had been pushed on to a post by Rangers goalkeeper Ronald Waterreus.

Rangers had taken the lead early in the second half through top scorer Novo, who has now bagged 23 goals since leaving Dundee in the summer.

Ricksen's penalty kept Rangers' six-point advantage over Celtic at the top of the Bank of Scotland Premier League intact, with the Hoops having beaten Dundee 3-0 at home.

Taken from sportinglife.com