Josh Ginnelly fired home to scrape a 1-1 draw for Hearts against a robust and uncompromising Livingston side at a packed Tynecastle in the cinch Scottish Premiership, but the post match chat was not about the quality of the goal, and it was quality, or the drama of the situation, coming as it did in the seventh minute of injury time.
The chat, as the 18,448 fans filed out of the packed stadium, was also not about Craig Gordon’s penalty save with his left foot with the scoreline at 1-0 in favour of the visitors, and not about the straight red card for Kye Rowles or how Livingston were able to pierce Hearts’ defence with a three-man move and edge ahead through a right foot shot from Sean Kelly,.
It wasn’t even about Robbie Neilson’s rush onto the pitch after Ginnelly (pictured) had bulged the net in the dying seconds with a rocket shot or even about the subsequent yellow card handed out to Hearts’ boss for his on-field celebration.
Instead, the post-match chat in the surrounding streets, in pubs and even on buses to the outskirts was about the interventions of the Video Assistant Referee (VAR).
The BBC quotes post-game were also dominated by VAR as was the post-match briefing with print and broadcast media underneath the stand at Tynecastle after the game. The gripe appears not to be about VAR itself, but by the way VAR is operated.
Robbie Neilson, Hearts’ boss, and then David Martindale, the manager of Livingston, expressed their confusion. Simply, they want the time taken to come to vital decisions to be shortened.
After the fallout, Hearts enter the break for the World Cup in fifth place in the table with 21 points from 15 games. Livingston are fourth with 23 points from their 15 starts and Aberdeen are third with Rangers second and Celtic out in front.
The match facts at Tynecastle are that Stephen Kelly put Livingston ahead with his first goal for the club after 55 minutes following a three-man move down the right following a long kick-out from goalkeeper Ivan Konovalov. Andrew Shinnie picked up the ball on the right hand side of Hearts’ box and provided the final pass.
Rowes was given his marching orders after 75 minutes, only minutes after rattling the crossbar with a header from an Alex Cochrane cross from the right, for a tug on the shirt, therefore denying a goal-scoring opportunity, then Scotland international Craig Gordon stuck out a foot to save a Sean Kelly spot kick.
Hearts then protested to the referee after Ginnelly was hauled down in the box as he attempted to reach a Smith cross ball. Not given.
Then, Ginnelly had another chance, this time after Barry McKay fed substitute Alan Forrest. He crossed to the back stick and Ginnelly failed to test the goalkeeper.
Alex Cochrane was then the subject of a VAR check for a tackle on Livingston captain Nicky Devlin near the left touchline, but this was waved away, and then Hearts’ skipper Gordon had to pull off a one-handed save on 90 minutes to deny a Jack Fitzwater header from the edge of the six-yard box. That kept the home side in the game.
Frustrated fans urged Hearts forward and lively Forrest broke free and crossed into the box. The ball was palmed away by Livingston goalkeeper Ivan Konvalov who then blocked one effort by Shankland and was sharp enough to stop a second from the same player.
The clock continued to tick down and finally Hearts found a way. Michael Smith sent a long ball to Forrest just inside his own half. He crossed into the box and the ball was not properly cleared allowing Ginnelly to fire home with aplomb in the sixth minute of injury time. The fans, and Neilson, erupted.
Now, over to the managers. Neilson first: “I had absolutely no idea what was going on today. It’s a shambles to be honest with you. We do not need three or four minutes to check a every decision.
“It needs to be done a lot quicker. We are stopping games for everything and that is going to kill football.”
Martindale said he could not understand the decision made after the tackle on Devlin and, in the build up to the goal, he felt that if his man had gone down in the box then there could have been a penalty in his favour.
Then, he said, Michael Smith cleared the ball to Alan Forrest who, he claimed, handled it. Frustration, confusion and controversy and no end of talking points from a match which had a dramatic, and controversial, finale.
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