Dundee United boss blasts Hearts players for acting up

Published on Tuesday 3 March 2009 09:06

CRAIG LEVEIN today accused the Hearts players of feigning injury and bullying referees.

The Dundee United boss was outraged at the Jambos' antics during his team's 1-0 defeat at Tannadice, saying Hearts "conned" their way to victory.

Levein, who watched a rerun of their weekend's game yesterday, singled out Jambos midfielder David Obua for some stinging criticism for "play-acting".

And he has pleaded with referees not to allow a repeat of Saturday's scenes which enabled the third-placed Tynecastle team to chalk up a vital victory in their quest to qualify for Europe.

Levein said: "Hearts conned the referee. I think with Hearts particularly, referees have to be alive to these kinds of tactics.

"I just want referees to watch out for them doing the same sort of thing again. It shouldn't be allowed. David Obua was comical and there were other players who were pretending to be injured when there was nothing wrong with them. If they think they can get way with that sort of stuff that's their affair but referees really need to stamp it out."

Levein says Hearts intentionally crowded round referee Eddie Smith after he awarded the penalty to the home side in an effort get him to change his mind.

"The referee should have been strong," added Levein. "On top of that, there was also the feigning of injury. Obua sat down on the pitch, took his gloves off one by one, lay back and held his hands over his face. It was comical.

"Big striker Adrian Mrowiec was carried off but came running back up the tunnel. Then Christos Karapidis was meant to have a serious injury. There was nothing wrong with him. That was proved when he (also) came bounding back up the tunnel."