Referee got three key decisions wrong, insists Naismith

STEVEN NAISMITH felt referee David Dickinson got three major decisions wrong in Hearts’ battling draw with St Mirren.

The official gave Peter Haring a straight red card for a challenge on Saints’ Mark O’Hara midway through the second half that the interim manager felt was the wrong call.

Naismith also wasn’t happy with the decision to award St Mirren a free-kick late in the first half from which Ryan Strain scored their second goal and also felt Haring should have had a penalty early in the second period.

Naismith, though, did give Dickinson credit for being willing to explain his thought process after a match in which Hearts battled back from two goals down to claim an unlikely point via Lawrence Shankland’s injury-time penalty kick.

Naismith said: ‘For me, it is three decisions [he got wrong]. The red card, VAR is involved in that as well, but I personally disagreed with it. I thought it was a foul to stop the game from a counter-attack. It was right in front of me, I didn’t think it was aggressive or even the speed I don’t think is excessive. The foul for their second goal, I don’t agree with.

‘And I think we could have had a penalty as I can see a clear pull. So I’m frustrated again this week because of a lack of consistency. The ref was really good at the end of the game, allowing me to speak to him and have a discussion and a conversation about it which is fine. I get his point of view and his team’s point of view but it doesn’t help us earn three points.’

Naismith also conceded that Hearts had been poor in the first half when goals from Joe Shaughnessy and then Strain had St Mirren in the driving seat.

He added: ‘The first half was really frustrating because it was nowhere near good enough for where the expectation for the club is. That’s a real frustration because in the second half you see, with nothing to lose, the boys make brave decisions in key moments and that gets us back in the game.’

St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson was frustrated with his team throwing away two precious points. He said: ‘We were so close to the points but we took a step back instead of a step forward and we got massively punished for that today.’