Steven Naismith claims key Rangers penalty award against Hearts was wrong - 'referee said he was never shown any video footage'

Hearts manager Steven Naismith feels the award of a late penalty to Rangers should not have happened, claiming one of his players was fouled in the build-up.

Rangers were awarded a penalty for this incident involving Peter Haring and Connor Goldson.

The Jambos suffered a gut-wrenching 2-1 defeat at Ibrox in the cinch Premiership, with the hosts scoring on 89 minutes and then in stoppage time to overturn an early opener from Lawrence Shankland. A win would have moved Hearts up into fourth in the table and handed them their first triumph in Govan for nine years, and Naismith is adamant his team were hard done by following the decision to give Rangers a second penalty in the match.

The key incident came on 89 minutes when referee John Beaton was advised to look at the VAR monitor due to Peter Haring pulling the shirt of Connor Goldson in the penalty box. Beaton subsequently pointed to the spot but Naismith claimed that John Lundstram had fouled Haring prior to the Austrian’s infringement by blocking him. The Hearts manager revealed that Beaton had not been shown the image involving Lundstram and Haring, only the moment the shirt tug took place.

"It's really disappointing,” said Naismith. “We're sitting here having not taken anything from the game. We played really well, we understood how the game could play out. It went the way we expected. Second half we knew they would take more risks. We knew we would have defend well and be resolute to frustrate them. We did that - and then the game hinges on the penalty, for me.

Hearts manager Steven Naismith was not impressed by the decision.

"I don't think it's a penalty. The full game, every corner there was blocking going on where Rangers players who were not even interested in the ball. All they were doing was looking at our man, blocking our players to stop them losing their runner. I spoke to the officials and they said if it was given a goal, it would then be given as a foul. Lo and behold, there's a clear block on our man. John Lundstram is not interested in the ball, all he is doing is looking at our player, and he blocks him, and it gets given as VAR as a penalty.

"The referee said that he was never shown any video footage of any block happening. There's contact with our player as the ball is coming in by a Rangers player who is not interested in the ball. Clear obstruction, clear blocking, should be our foul. VAR should see that a foul has happened before the two players make contact [for the penalty]. He said he didn't see that far back but it's pretty obvious, to be honest, when you look at it. And then, for the penalty in the first half, there's two minutes added on and it gets given in the 48th minute. Small details but they have a big impact.”

The two teams meet each other next weekend and Naismith wants his team to heart from their performance. “It's a different dynamic, it's a cup semi-final, it's got to be done to a finish,” added Naismith. “The fans are going to be roughly an even split, so the game's totally different. But we believe, we believed last season. If we do all the things right we can compete in all the games. We showed that again.”