Hearts rightly left red-faced

Hearts were docked two points and fined yesterday for fielding an ineligible player in the Betfred Cup against Cove Rangers.

I’m not sure what a suitable punishment would have been but it is surprising that a club of Hearts’ stature can even do something like that.

The club’s owner, Ann Budge, described the incident as “an embarrassment” and she is not wrong.

How much influence 18-year-old Andrew Irving, the player involved, had after coming on as a 65th-minute substitute doesn’t matter.

It shouldn’t be too hard to make sure players are registered for a competition.

It has been a major oversight.

It is almost understandable that something like that can happen at a part-time club that may be dependent on volunteers – but not at a top-flight club.

Having said that, I remember at Inverness we were going to play Celtic in Glasgow and we were almost guilty of a similar incident.

We were getting off the team bus at Celtic Park when we discovered that Davide Xausa was suspended.

He was meant to be in the team but, thankfully, we found out just in time and avoided any punishment. It will be interesting to see how this affects Hearts’ Betfred Cup prospects.