Hearts manager Robbie Neilson has displayed his displeasure with SFA officials, despite Celtic scoring a perfectly legitimate goal through Kyogo.
Hearts fans, and pundits alike, were furious with the decision to allow the goal. Kyogo found himself in space to tap home a cross from Anthony Ralston, played with pinpoint accuracy.
Stills from the game have emerged, showing that Ralston was ahead of Kyogo when he played his pass. Despite that, there’s a furore that’s likely to last quite a while yet.
Speaking in the immediate aftermath of the game, Neilson didn’t want to get himself in too much bother with the SFA. But he still said his piece, and it was fiery stuff.
Neilson said [BBC Radio Scotland, 21.55]:
“I was delighted with the players, especially the second half I thought we had the better of the game. We played on the front foot, pressed Celtic and created chances.
“We didn’t get beaten by Celtic, we got beat by poor decisions from the officials, that’s the galling thing.
“I’ve seen it, everyone would agree with it. The linesman had a brilliant view. I don’t want to say too much. Last time I did, at Ibrox, I had the book thrown at me.
“We deserved to take something out of the game, in key moments in the game Craig Gordon had a few good saves but we had good chances. But we were done by a very, very poor official.”
If Hearts deserved to beat Celtic on the night, they would’ve, despite protests from Robbie Neilson
In a brilliant end-to-end game, an amazing advert for Scottish football if you like, it’s sad we have to talk about this.
Especially when you actually look at the “offside” in question [Twitter]. It’ll be frustrating for the Hearts supporters, but we’ve had big decisions go against us too.
The referee didn’t make the difference today. Hearts had some big moments and could’ve gone level if they’d been more clinical. Celtic, too, could’ve had a few more. It was a nervous game.
Perhaps VAR will solve these issues. Video Assistant Referees would’ve ended the debate. Kyogo was behind the ball when it was played, but if we had the infrastructure in place, we could just talk about a fantastic game of football.
Neilson isn’t happy. That’s his right.
However, if Hearts were good enough to win the game, they would’ve.
Read more: Michael Stewart delivers class verdict on Celtic and Ange Postecoglou after Hearts win
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