'Really bad': Hearts hit out over controversial Copenhagen moment

Hearts head coach Neil Critchley admitted his team were a clear second best in their 2-0 defeat by FC Copenhagen in the Europa Conference League - but railed against a controversial penalty given to the Danes that put tie match out of Hearts’ reach.

Trailing to Amin Chiadka’s 48th-minute opener, the Jambos were aggrieved when Copenhagen were awarded a 78th-minute penalty when the Algerian collided with Hearts keeper Craig Gordon. After a VAR consultation, referee Andrea Colombo pointed to the spot and Kevin Diks converted.

Hearts will now need to beat Petrocub at home next week to clinch a top-24 finish and a place in the play-off round.

“We played against a very good team,” said Critchley. “I think that was obvious, the evidence was on the pitch for us to see that. They deserved to win. You plan to have a go but then their technical quality can sometimes limit how you can get after the ball and press and when you do that they play through you or play beyond you, it's very difficult.

Hearts head coach Neil Critchley. | SNS Group

“Having said that, they obviously hit the bar in the first half. There weren't loads of chances, they had a lot of the ball but they weren't getting to the goal on too many occasions. We were wasteful with the ball and at 1-0 we're in the game. But a really poor decision has taken our chance of having a right go near the end of the game, which is what I'd spoken about at half-time.

“We had a plan and we're on the cusp of doing that, changing and going for the game because you might as well go for it 1-0 - press and really go after them. A really poor decision has taken that opportunity away from us. He [Chiakha] gets there first and he kicks the ball onto Craig's arm, you can see it deflects off his arm and then there's a collision, there's always going to be a collision because he's flying for the ball and Craig's coming out.

“It's just a natural coming together of players, it's not like he's touched it past him and Craig's come down and caught him. It's never a penalty, I think it's a bad decision, a really bad decision.”