Alexei Eremenko red card sours win for Mixu Paatelainen

"The player who started things is the most guilty. He should be punished, and in this incident it wasn't Alexei Eremenko who started anything. I am very, very disappointed with the outcome," he said following a win which completed a noteworthy double for his side at the Edinburgh ground - their previous visit having resulted in a 3-0 win.

The trouble for the Kilmarnock manager is that his version starts after the initial incident. For it was Eremenko's tough challenge on David Templeton which began the trouble, and the Russian-born Finnish international had also bumped Marius Zaliukas seconds before.

Probably still upset, the Hearts player tried to grab Eremenko by the top of his jersey, causing the Kilmarnock player to retaliate by lifting his hands against Zaliukas's upper chest, after both heads came close to each other. At that point Templeton rushed in and shoved Eremenko away, the Kilmarnock man falling on his backside in surprise more than anything.

Referee Steve McLean did not see the latter incident, but had a clear view of the Zaliukas-Eremenko clash. Even so he consulted his assistant referees before acting, showing Eremenko the red card for raising his hands. The Kilmarnock player hung about to see what punishment would be for Zaliukas and Templeton, the former having certainly raised his hands with intent, and the latter blatantly shoving Eremenko.

Zaliukas only saw yellow, which led to ironic laughter from Eremenko as he left the pitch, though he was clearly much angrier when the referee, after consulting fourth official Craig Thomson, only booked Templeton for what is usually a red card offence.

Paatelainen's plaintive complaint about apparent inequality of treatment - "I usually back referees but maybe I need to change my tone" - was taken up my Manuel Pascali, one of several Kilmarnock players to perform with distinction - Frazer Wright, Liam Kelly, William Gros, Jamie Hamill and especially David Silva also being readily called to mind as superior on the day.

Pascali, who marshalled the defence well along with Wright, said: "Alex is an easy target because everyone knows that he is a different class player, and from the first minute, every time he touched the ball, people tried to go in hard on him. When it happens four, five, six times, you would need to be Jesus to be patient and calm down every time this happens.

"Players know he can be wound up, and he is such a quality player that against him, you try to get on his nerves.

"Zaliukas grabbed him by the neck and if that was not a red card I don't know what is. Templeton also pushed him on the ground, and I was expecting the Hearts players to be sent off. I don't know if Alex deserved to be sent off but I saw that Zaliukas was shocked when the red card was shown because he thought he was getting one too."

The match was played at pace throughout, and only Eremenko and Silva seemed willing to put their foot on the ball and try to play a clever ball rather than a quick one.

Hearts charged into the attack, and had Templeton's header gone in and not hit the bar midway through the first half, Hearts might have taken charge.

As it was, Kilmarnock enjoyed a strong spell of pressure either side of half time, and won the match with sweet goals from Silva and Eremenko in 50 and 56 minutes, the former capitalising on poor defence and the latter finishing from close range after a swift interchange with Gros.

The sending-off, however, did nothing to lift Hearts who seemed short of energy and precision.

As always, the exchange of views afterwards was interesting, Hearts manager Jim Jefferies making a serious and correct point about the lack of stoppage time. There were four substitutions, for which 30 seconds each is supposed to be played. The main flashpoint took nearly four minutes to sort out, there were four other bookings and a few lectures as well as several injuries that also needed attention. Yet Thomson only put three extra minutes on the overtime clock.

"Maybe I wasn't at the same game," said Jefferies, who added that while he accepted Kilmarnock deserved the win, there should have been more time added on: "If there had been five or six minutes more and it had gone to 2-1, it might have been interesting."

Controversies like this dominate proceedings too often, but they do make good fodder for discussion and as long as football judgment is a matter of opinion, there will be plenty to talk about.

Taken from the Scotsman