Pressley refutes dive claim, then thanks referee

STEVEN Pressley could have wished for a happier ending to his first match in joint charge of Hearts. Or, to be precise, he could hardly have imagined a more traumatic conclusion.

With just a couple of minutes to play, and Hearts 2-1 behind, Pressley went down in the Celtic box under a challenge from Craig Beattie. Penalties have been given for less, but on this occasion referee Willie Young ruled that Pressley had dived. Having been booked shortly before for a foul on Craig Bellamy, the home captain was shown a second yellow card and had to walk.

He was back on the pitch shortly afterwards, joining his team-mates to thank the fans for their support throughout the season. Coming after a fiercely contested match, the atmosphere of cordiality during the squad’s brief lap of honour was enough to banish any sense of grievance which the captain may have felt, for, while insisting he thought his team should have been awarded a penalty, he made a point of deferring to the referee’s decision.

"I thought it was a penalty, but what I will say is it’s a very big decision for Willie to make, and if he’s not 100 per cent then he can’t give it," Pressley said of the referee, who is to retire at the end of the season.

"That could be the final game in which Willie will referee us, and he’s been a first-class official for a long period of time. I have the utmost respect for him. It was his call. I thought [Beattie’s] knee came across me, and I thought he fouled me. But as I say, it’s Willie’s call, and if he’s not 100 per cent he’s made the right decision.

"I don’t think he really wanted to do it, to be honest with you, but if he thinks I dived the decision is correct," Pressley added when asked about his dismissal, to which he reacted with some equanimity. "If I’d given an aggressive reaction it was not going to change the decision. You have to accept referees’ decisions."

Beattie, who had earlier scored what turned out to be Celtic’s winner, declined to commit himself to a verdict on the incident. "I’ll need to see it again," the substitute said. "It’s a contact sport, isn’t it? I’ll need to see how much contact was made or whether Steven has played for it."

There was a stage of the season when Hearts did not exactly see eye to eye with referees, but Pressley saw the bigger picture in this case, and when he went to the officials’ dressing room after the game it was certainly not to berate them. "I thanked Willie for what he’s given the game," he explained. "That’s the truth. I’m disappointed he’s not given the penalty, but I respect Willie as a referee and as a person."

There was disappointment, too, about the result of a match to which Hearts had contributed greatly only to receive nothing in return. "The players are extremely disappointed because we certainly felt we deserved more from the game than we got," Pressley went on.

"I thought in the first half we controlled the tempo and passed the ball extremely well. In terms of clear-cut chances we had by far the greater - Celtic’s only real opportunity in the first half may have been their goal. Second half they pressed us more, but again I thought we did extremely well and we’re disappointed not to have taken anything from the game."

Such statesmanlike answers might profitably be studied then emulated by some managers, but Pressley went out of his way to insist that he was not embarking on a premature switch to coaching.

"One thing I need to clarify is that I’m not the manager of the football club," he stated in response to suggestions that he had taken charge for the final two matches of the season following Hearts’ parting company with John Robertson last week. "I am the captain with added responsibility. I’m working alongside John McGlynn for the next seven days, but I’m not the manager."

He will probably be a manager sooner rather than later, and may even be so at Hearts one day. In the circumstances, however, he could hardly be unaware of the dangers of taking up such a post prematurely.

Taken from the Scotsman