HEARTS LOSE WALKER BATTLE
HEARTS star Jamie Walker failed in his bid to escape a two-game ban for diving yesterday with team-mate Callum Paterson forced to defend the Tynecastle side from accusations they try to dupe match officials. Celtic captain Scott Brown branded Walker a ‘cheat’ and a ‘diver’ after the winger earned the home side a penalty — despite the visitors’ protests — in Sunday’s 2-1 win for the reigning champions at Tynecastle. That prompted a furious response from Hearts manager Robbie Neilson, who vowed to fight a charge of ‘simulation’ subsequently issued by SFA compliance officer Tony McGlennan. Offered the two-match suspension, Walker and his manager chose to argue the case in front of a judicial panel at Hampden yesterday. However, with referee John Beaton reportedly having apologised to Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers for getting the call wrong, the chances of Hearts overturning the decision were always slim. Late yesterday the panel issued a verdict on the alleged breach of disciplinary rule 201, saying of Walker: ‘You committed an act of simulation in that you did pretend that you were fouled by a player on the opposing team, namely Kieran Tierney, and did thereafter dive in the penalty box of the opposing team. ‘That this act of simulation caused a match official to make an incorrect decision, namely the incorrect awarding of a penalty to Heart of Midlothian FC.’ The club provided only a brief response to a verdict that rules Walker out of league games against Aberdeen and Inverness, saying: ‘Heart of Midlothian is deeply disappointed with the opinion of the panel.’ Paterson spoke up on behalf of his entire team, meanwhile, after Walker was booed by St Johnstone fans during Wednesday night’s League Cup defeat in Perth — a game where Paterson himself won a hotly disputed penalty, which Walker converted. The full-back said: ‘It was a penalty. We have been in the paper a lot obviously with diving — and that’s just a stereotype around it. But there’s nothing we can do about it.’ Asked about the five bookings Hearts picked up in the loss to Saints, Paterson was equally bullish, declaring: ‘If you don’t put tackles in and don’t get yellow cards then you get a reputation for being soft. ‘That’s one thing we’re not — and it is something we don’t want to be labelled as. Obviously we’re men, we’re playing a man’s sport — and bookings are part and parcel of it.’ Former Celtic striker Andy Walker meantime branded Brown’s ‘cheat’ remark as ‘immature and thoughtless’. He said: ‘I can pretty much guarantee that Robbie Neilson and teammates shook his (Walker’s) hand at half-time knowing that they were now in a level game. ‘Equally, they will be horrified later in the season if they are on the wrong end of a dubious foul or penalty that results in lost points. ‘That’s why Brown’s comments were immature and thoughtless. Adopting the moral high ground is a dangerous stance to take on incidents like this. ‘Will Brown label a Celtic or Scotland team-mate a cheat when one of them is guilty of a debatable foul/penalty later in the season? ‘It was left to Celtic boss Rodgers to bring a more calm and measured response to the incident when he chose to praise the referee for admitting his mistake.’