Steven Naismith rues game-changing Celtic award but issues ‘month of games’ target

Steven Naismith has promised Hearts will “grind through” a testing period as he lamented an inconsistent interpretation of the rules in his side’s 2-0 defeat to Celtic at Parkhead.

The defeat – Hearts’ fourth in a row in the league - has planted the Tynecastle side at the foot of the Premiership table. They head to St Mirren next weekend where it won’t get any easier. Naismith was frustrated by seeing a penalty award taken away from Hearts in the first half, after the ball had struck Liam Scales on the arm after a Lawrence Shankland header. Referee Colin Steven overturned his own decision following a VAR check.

It went from bad to worse for Hearts in the second half when a penalty, initially not given, saw the hosts go in front, with £11 million buy Arne Engels scoring on his full debut. The award was for a handball against left back James Penrice from Nicolas Kuhn’s cross. Naismith argued that neither awards were penalties and the referee had got it right in the first instance but wrong in the second.

Manager Steven Naismith greets Lawrence Shankland after taking the skipper off in Hearts' 2-0 defeat to Celtic (Photo by Ross MacDonald / SNS Group)

“I don't think our penalty is a penalty in the guidelines in terms of the distance between the players,” he said. “But I also don't think theirs is a penalty.

"It’s down to opinion, but the images we were shown before the season, it's all down to distance. It hits his arm, but for me there's nothing he can do. The motion is the one that we were shown in pre-season. So I disagree with that and that's a big moment in the game.

“We probably were a wee bit better in possession in the second half,” he said. “We believed a bit more and the crowd were getting frustrated. But when that goes in it changes it. And then the second goal comes when we open the game up a bit and there's a bit more space.”

Returning to the penalties, he added: “What the interpretation has been is there are times the ball hits somebody's hand and there's nothing they can do.

"We accept that," he added. "I just feel that both of them are in the same ballpark. I don't think the distance between James and the ball is great enough that he can get his hand out the way.”

He is confident Hearts can start moving up the table. “We've now got a month of games before the international break and we need to win games,” he said. “But from what I've seen today, I think we'll start picking up points.”