Monty proud of team but rues two points ‘lost to VAR’
Nick Montgomery says he fully expected referee Nick Clancy to overturn the penalty decision that saw his Hibs team denied a first victory at Tynecastle since 2019. But he’s proud of how the visitors performed in the white heat of an Edinburgh derby – and says they deserved more than their 1-1 draw, writes John Greechan.
Emiliano Marcondes put Hibs into the lead before Lawrence Shankland equalised from the spot, Clancy standing by his decision to award a foul against Will Fish despite watching a replay that showed no contact with Kenneth Vargas.
Asked if he thought the ref would change his mind after being called to the pitchside monitor by the Video Assistant Referee, Monty said: “Everyone is expecting that. I don’t want to be talking about VAR again but you’ve asked me the question, so I’ll answer it.
“The VAR is there to call the referee over so he doesn’t make a mistake. And when he called him over, I looked at it on the monitor and my opinion is no way it’s a penalty – and I don’t think anybody else probably thought it was. And then, lo and behold, he’s got a clear view of it, he can slow it down, he can watch it... yeah, he gives a penalty.”
Hot on the heels of being denied a stonewall penalty at Aberdeen, prompting someone from the SFA Referee Department to apologise to Hibs, Montgomery’s frustration with officials is mounting, the straight-talking Yorkshireman saying: “I’m just really disappointed that we don’t take three points. It cost us two points.
“Maybe we’ll get another apology this week like we did after Aberdeen. Maybe we won’t. But at the end of the day, what we won’t get back is any points. We have to cop it on the chin.
“We have to hope that, and trust that, moving forward maybe we get some calls that have gone against us this season.
“But again, I don’t want to be talking about that. I want to be talking about how well we played tonight. We deserved three points – and I don’t think anyone can deny that.
“It seems week in, week out at the minute there have been decisions that have been out of our control.
“I thought we were brilliant tonight, I thought we deserved all three points. They’ve cleared four off the line, I think we had enough chances to win two games. I feel sorry for the fans and the players, we didn’t deserve that.
“We had great chances, but we shouldn’t have needed them. We deserved a clean sheet.
“Sometimes you need a little bit of luck. But I am proud of the boys’ effort.”
Commenting on the missile throwing that saw Shankland targeted before he took his spot kick, Montgomery said: “I don’t condone it, Steven [Naismith] doesn’t condone it. Neither do the clubs. Unfortunately there were a few things.
“Emi Marcondes had it in the first half as well when we had serious pressure on them.
“He’s trying to take a corner kick and is getting stuff thrown at him.
“But I don’t want to talk about it tonight.”