Sproule 'made a meal' of incident, claims McGowan

THE Hearts defender Ryan McGowan has accused the Hibernian winger Ivan Sproule of "making a meal" of the second-half flashpoint involving the pair in Monday's Edinburgh derby at Easter Road.

After watching his side lose 3-1 to their city rivals, Hibs manager Pat Fenlon claimed McGowan should have been sent off when he appeared to butt Sproule in the chest after being fouled by the Northern Irishman.

Hibs captain Ian Murray backed up his manager, insisting that "the letter of the law says it's a sending-off", with television pictures seeming to support the Easter Road side's complaints.

McGowan netted Hearts' opening goal from close range, also in controversial fashion after Stephen Elliott appeared to block Hibs goalkeeper Graham Stack's view of Andy Webster's initial header.

However, the Australian dismissed claims that he should have been sent off by referee Calum Murray, who failed to even caution the player. He said: "He had just fouled me and, to be honest, you can't just stand straight up when you get up from the ground.

"I've come up and I was going to go towards him but he's come towards me.

"It's more just him walking towards me and me trying to get up. He's just made a meal of it, to be honest."

Fenlon insists the decision to drop Hibs' top scorer Garry O'Connor for the match was down to injury and nothing more sinister.

There have been rumours of a fall-out between O'Connor and Fenlon after the player was limited to a place on the bench and the last five minutes of Hibs' loss to Hearts.

However, Fenlon, who has confessed he is desperately seeking reinforcements to aid his team's battle against relegation, believes he was right to rest the Scotland internationalist, who has been nursing a bruised toe.

Fenlon said: "Garry's been struggling, in fairness to him. He's not done a lot of training and I just thought it was time to maybe give him a little bit of a break to get his toe sorted out.

"He's not been firing on all cylinders and we are going to need him for the rest of the season. I didn't really want to use him unless I really had to and, right at the end, we had to throw him in and see if we could maybe nick a goal."

Hibs, meanwhile, are hopeful of landing Coventry City's James McPake, who left Livingston in the summer of 2009, on loan for the rest of the season but the capital side face a four-way fight north of the border for the defender.

The 27-year-old could be farmed out by Coventry this month after making just two starts and five appearances this season for the npower Championship side.

Hibs have inquired about the defender's availability and are favourites for his signature, if they can meet Coventry's wage demands.

But, according to a source in the Midlands, there have been four notes of interest in McPake from clubs in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League.

It is understood that Hibs face competition from Dunfermline, as well as Dundee United and Hearts, who have asked to be kept informed as they prepare for a possible overhaul of their squad during the transfer window.

Taken from the Herald