Hearts and Celtic may face trial by video

THE repercussions of Sunday's explosive encounter between Hearts and Celtic could be felt by both clubs for some time to come.

The home team, who went down by 3-2 to go seven points behind the league leaders, will miss Steven Pressley and Rudi Skacel through suspension, and may also be without Takis Fyssas and Paul Hartley. Celtic's Neil Lennon, meanwhile, could also be in trouble with the authorities, while Stilian Petrov is set to be out for several weeks after straining a hamstring.

The replacement of Petrov by Stephen Pearson was one of the key moments in the match, as the former Motherwell player scored the goal which got Celtic back into the match after they had gone two goals behind in the opening seven minutes. The dismissal of Fyssas by referee Iain Brines was another, as Gordon Strachan's side scored twice in a frenzied finale to the game.

The Greek left-back was shown the red card for committing a foul on Shaun Maloney which denied the Celtic player a goalscoring opportunity, but Hearts may still appeal against the decision if video evidence shows that there was little or no contact between the players.

"Hearts will be studying tapes of the game in relation to the sending-off of Takis Fyssas," a spokesman for the Tynecastle side said yesterday. "The club will consider this in detail over the next day or so and make a judgment on whether to refer the matter to the SFA."

Video evidence may also be used in dealing with incidents involving Hartley and Lennon which Brines apparently failed to notice at the time. The Hearts midfielder, who was booked in the dying minutes for dissent, was earlier seen to kick Ross Wallace, while a lunge by Lennon left Pressley in need of treatment. Both incidents could be referred to the SFA's disciplinary committee, which next meets on 31 January. Pressley's booking for persistent fouling means he will miss the forthcoming league fixtures against Kilmarnock and Hibernian, while Skacel will be suspended for the former match only.

The possible loss of four key players makes it more likely than ever that Hearts will buy during the transfer window.

Celtic will miss the creativity of Petrov while he is on the sidelines, but any ban on Lennon will be counter-balanced by the arrival in the team of Roy Keane, who is henceforth available for selection.

"To play in the manner we did and come away with nothing is bitterly disappointing," was Pressley's summation of the game. "In the first half especially, we played some of the best football of the season.

"Full credit to Celtic, they showed great desire and great application, but I still think over the course of the 90 minutes that the better side lost.

"We didn't quite get the second balls as we did in the first half, but we must remember that we were playing against a good Celtic side and you can't expect us to dominate for 90 minutes. But I thought we played extremely well and on another day we would have won the game."

Pressley repeated claims by Hearts' first-team coach Graham Rix and goalkeeper Craig Gordon that Brines was guilty of inconsistency.

"I really can't understand it," the centre-back said. "I'm not a man who likes to look to referees for excuses, because they have an extremely hard job in a high-pressurised environment, but I just looked for an answer.

"What I asked him at the time was how he could differentiate between the incident with Bobo Balde in the first half" - in which the Celtic player was booked for a trip on Deividas Cesnauskis just outside the penalty area - "and Takis in the second half. That was the reason I approached him: I wanted an answer on that. I thought both decisions were like for like, so we were disappointed in that."

Stephen McManus, who scored two of Celtic's goals, played down the significance of the result. "We just went to Tynecastle believing in ourselves that we could pick up three points," the goalscorer said.

"The biggest encouragement was we would go seven points clear.

"But there's still a long way to go. Anything can happen between now and May and we just have to take it one step at a time."

Taken from the Scotsman