Gary Mackay: Hearts must battle on despite poor refereeing

I thought referee Bobby Madden had a really poor game on Sunday from both teams' perspective, but particularly Hearts'.

Alfredo Morelos scored a wonderful goal but where is the consistency in refereeing? He responded to the Hearts supporters and wasn’t even yellow carded. I was gobsmacked.

Players in other teams must be baffled because they will be thinking: ‘What actually is inciting the crowd to get a yellow card?’ Morelos is a goalscorer but to goad the Hearts fans was a yellow card all day long. Lots of instances like that infuriate the players and management.

We can’t mask the fact we were beaten by a Rangers team which, no disrespect, are no great shakes.

Referee Bobby Madden incensed Hearts. Pic: SNS

It was a really positive start and I thought getting the first goal would have been the catalyst for going on to win the game. However, from a footballing perspective, it was kind of the worst thing that happened to Hearts. I thought if Hearts got in front it would be a good lift for them. Rangers’ away form hadn’t been spectacular and our home form had been decent.

When we lost the equaliser, I thought we were really ordinary if I’m being completely honest. We seemed to go back into our shell. Then, when Rangers went down to ten men, I have to say I was stunned at how inept we were. We didn’t test Rangers at all.

Don’t get me wrong, Hearts battled and did all the things you would expect them to do, but there wasn’t that real quality.

Tomorrow we visit a team who didn’t play over the weekend and we need to try to do these same things again. One thing is guaranteed up at Perth, you are going to have to battle. Nothing is going to come easy to you at St Johnstone.

The first thing you need is that desire to match them. They are on a great run of results. I saw them against Kilmarnock recently and, although Killie were the better team, St Johnstone hung in and got a point from the game. That shows you they will fight and scrap.

If there are another five changes to the Hearts team, I would understand it because we’re trying to find a team to win us a game. There isn’t that dynamic in the team and the lack of creativity is there for everyone to see. I hope it all clicks tomorrow.