Derek McInnes ‘shocked’ Hearts not awarded penalty against Motherwell

Derek McInnes rued “a huge moment” as he expressed “shock” that his table-topping Hearts side were not awarded a penalty in the second half of their 1-1 draw at Motherwell.

The Jambos – chasing their first Scottish Premiership title since 1960 – fell behind for the fifth game running when Stephen Kingsley bundled the ball into his own net, but they hit back through Lawrence Shankland just before the break.

Midway through the second half they thought they were going to be awarded a spot-kick when referee Steven McLean was called to the monitor by VAR Greg Aitken as Alexandros Kyziridis went down in the box after appearing to be caught on the foot by Tawanda Maswanhise while sprinting to meet a short corner.

McLean, however, stuck to his guns and Hearts had to settle for a point on a night when key duo Craig Halkett and Marc Leonard both ruptured their Achilles.

“I’m adamant it is,” said manager McInnes. “Greg Aitken has done his job really well he does what he should do and brings the referee over to the monitor. And we were shocked (it was not given).

“The explanation I got was, ‘yes, there’s contact, but there’s not enough contact’. Anybody who’s played football knows that because Kyziridis is sprinting four, five yards, off the mark, sharp, he doesn’t need to take a lot of contact (to go down).

“Why would he go down? It’s a short corner we’re trying to work, and he’s been caught, it’s a penalty kick.

“It’s such a pivotal moment, a huge moment. I thought the referee had a poor night. We’re all guilty of having poor nights but I didn’t think he’d settled the whole game.”

McInnes said Hearts “cannot dwell” on their penalty frustration as they try to get over the line in the title race. They are four points ahead of Celtic, who play their game in hand at home to Rangers on Sunday.

Hearts could have the chance to win the league at home to Falkirk on Wednesday depending how Martin O’Neill’s side fare over their next two matches against Gers and Motherwell.

But McInnes’ side will have to see out their tilt at glory without both Halkett and Leonard.

“Bad injuries, both Achilles injuries, both will be significant time out, I think,” he said. “It’s just a bad night for both lads. Both have been brilliant this season.”

Motherwell boss Jens Berthel Askou felt the referee was right not to award Hearts a penalty.

“You can see that there’s a little bit of contact, but not enough to drop yourself to the ground like that and make it look like it’s the worst tackle in the history of football,” he said.

“But I have to admit I was shocked that he said no, it’s not a penalty, because we’ve had so many crazy things against us this season.

“We put out a really, really good performance without creating enough big opportunities.”