Falkirk see red as Hearts snatch points to go third

Bednar 74

RED card and red faces. Well there should be. Hearts should be happily celebrating the fact they have finally taken all three points from a match against Falkirk this term but instead, thanks to one ridiculous act of unsporting behaviour, they are having to deal with the ignominy of having one of their players branded a cheat.

With two minutes of the match to go, and Hearts a goal up, Andrius Velicka fouled Darren Barr, who jumped to his feet to remonstrate. If his puffed-out chest brushed the striker's shirt it will surprise, but the Lithuanian went down as though felled by a battering ram and the referee sent the defender packing.

"I think the referee totally got conned," said the angry Falkirk manager, John Hughes. "Trust me, I'm working with a young boy who is the most honest, hard-working guy I have at my club and when he says he never did anything, he didn't do anything. I never saw it, you never saw it, so for a referee to fall for it is an injustice. The referee said he stuck the head on him so I'm unhappy. I expect better from a professional football player and I expect better from a referee.

"I am 100% appealing that because that is not happening to a guy who is as honest as the day is long. He's not getting done like that, it's an injustice."

Hearts assistant manager Stephen Frail said he had not seen the incident but if the management were being coy, Falkirk's Dean Holden, who was booked for protesting, claimed some of the Hearts players had apologised. "I spoke to three or four of them after the match and they just said 'that's what [Velicka's] like' and that tells its own story. It was disappointing. It's out of my control how he behaves but I would be embarrassed if I behaved like that. You see it every week in the Premiership and now something needs to be done. I think the only way to stop it is to look back at the video and to fine them or even give them a three-match ban or something like that."

It was a sorry incident to end an evenly-contested match that had risen above the atrocious conditions. Until the final 16 minutes, it seemed that the biggest talking point would be the side's inability to beat the woodwork and each other as they headed towards their third draw of the season.

Hearts had started the match without Craig Gordon. He missed training at the beginning of the week with a groin strain and, despite returning, it was decided not to risk him. In his absence, Christophe Berra assumed the captaincy while Steve Banks, who is in talks to extend his contract beyond this summer, made his first Tynecastle start.

Hearts had the better of the first half, with Kasper Schmeichel having to pull off a couple of saves from Paul Hartley and Saulius Mikoliunas. But Falkirk were never out-classed and could have taken the lead in the 22nd minute when Jack Ross headed a Russell Latapy corner. Banks pulled of a wonderful reaction save and while Barr reacted first, his shot clipped the outside of the post.

It wasn't the only instance when the bar or post denied the teams. In the 42nd minute there was some delightful play from Hartley, who won the ball and then danced around three Falkirk players before squaring the ball to Mikoliunas, who crashed his shot off the bar and in the second half it was tit-for-tat. Falkirk were looking the better team without having any real cutting edge, but it was Hearts who carved out an opening in the 72nd minute. It was Hartley who played the ball in and Velicka ran on to it and chested it from close range but was again foiled by the post. Straight away Falkirk broke upfield; this time it was Vitor Lima who headed off the crossbar.

The pendulum swung again in the 74th minute and Hearts finally made one count. It was the substitutes Andrew Driver and Roman Bednar who combined, with the former swiping in a good, low cross which the latter put beyond Schmeichel. It was a critical blow to the visitors.

The sending off with two minutes to go just added insult to feigned injury.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Paul Hartley was one of the most creative players on the pitch and unlucky not to carve out a couple of chances earlier in the game.

ASIDE: Perhaps it was stress management but Neil MaCann should be happy it was the dugout and not him who was within range when Ivanauskas lashed out minutes into the game following the midfielder's profligate corner. As for the audible outburst, no translator was needed.

Taken from the Scotsman