Hearts 0 - 1 Falkirk

"Cheat!" The Hearts fans thundered as referee Dougie McDonald and his assistants walked down the tunnel. It's all a conspiracy, you see: the SFA are out to get Hearts and the likes of McDonald are pawns in this nefarious black-ops campaign.

Of course, even if you are prepared to believe that anyone in the SFA would actually entertain such a notion, the blundering mess they would make of it hardly bears thinking about. If the SFA tried to fake a moon landing, you know a boom mike would hover into shot at some point.

The simple fact is that Scotland's officials have a very hard job and most don't seem up to it. There is a difference between being biased and being incompetent.

Bad refereeing usually ruins a game and in the first half at Tynecastle it looked like that was going to be the case, as McDonald was quick to book players and slow to play advantage. But in the second half, the neutral observer had to be grateful to the officials for making a dull game gripping and generating an intense - albeit hostile - atmosphere.

First, there was Falkirk's goal. Jackie McNamara slung the ball into the box, where Steve Lovell headed in off the bar. He appeared so far offside that there could be no question the goal would not be given. It was.

Martin Cryans, the assistant referee who made that call, was perhaps rattled by the abuse he received, because when Michael Higdon was put clean through minutes later to score, his flag shot up with alacrity. The forward looked well onside, and it was hard not to feel that Cryans was trying to level things.

But Hearts fans had no time to reflect on that piece of good luck: seconds later their fury was stoked to white heat as McDonald gave them a penalty, then let himself be over-ruled by his other assistant.

"I didn't think it was a penalty, the ref showed a bit of balls," insisted Darren Barr, the Falkirk defender. "I looked at the linesman and he was pointing to the corner flag so I was like that, talk to the linesman ref, talk to the linesman!'"

Hearts fans will wish he kept his mouth shut. It looked a certain penalty at the time and though television replays showed that Lee Bullen got the ball, they also showed he got Andy Driver first. Another one wrong, just, although the assistant referee should be commended for having the courage of his convictions rather than castigated for not being allowed to use video evidence.

The next refereeing decision calculated to enrage Hearts fans was when McDonald sent off Marius Zaliukas. This was one the officials got right, although Zaliukas hardly made it difficult, punching and kicking Carl Finnigan after the Falkirk striker had pulled him to the ground.

Scott Arfield's red card near the end was just as clear-cut, but before that Steven Pressley clattered into Michael Stewart on the edge of the box and seemed as surprised as the home supporters that he only received a yellow card.

Incontrovertible evidence of the conspiracy then. Or maybe not. "I was never a believer in it in the first place, the referee makes a decision and you get on with it," said Hearts' new captain Robbie Neilson, who admitted "at times the game was getting out of control."

In fact, if Hearts' supporters really need a scapegoat for their team's dire performance, maybe they should blame the man who has refused to sign a striker, forcing Hearts to play with a teenager and a utility defender up front. Or the man who sold the captain and best defender just before the transfer window closed and messed up the signing of a replacement, meaning Zaliukas, sent off twice already this season, got another chance to embarrass himself. Or the man who promised Champions League football and a new stand.

They are, of course, the same man. The only person cheating Hearts fans is Vladimir Romanov.

Taken from the Herald