Hearts feel sorry for Celtic but Shankland and Naismith offer ...

Lawrence Shankland reckons the decision to send Celtic midfielder Yang Hyun-jun off against Hearts at Tynecastle was harsh.

And while boss Steven Naismith doesn't share that view, he believes NEITHER penalty at Tynecastle should have stood. Just minutes after Adam Idah had seen his early penalty kick saved by Jambos stopper Zander Clark, VAR called on referee Dom Robertson to send the South Korean off for a high boot on Alex Cochrane. Talisman Shankland watched on as teammate Jorge Grant fired the hosts in front from the penalty spot after Tomoki Iwata had been penalised for a handball, and then had a goal chalked off for offside by VAR after initially appearing to make it 2-0 in first half stoppage time.

But the Scotland international was superb on the day, and was rewarded for his all-round display when be brilliantly finished from Calem Nieuwenhof's neat touch inside the box to bag his 27th goal of the season.

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The 28-year-old shared his thoughts on Yang's dismissal, which ultimately swung the game in Hearts' favour. Speaking to Sky Sports after the game, he said: "I have not seen it back but at the time I thought it was pretty harsh to be honest. But you take it and ride your luck when those decisions go for you. But I thought it was a good performance off the back off that as we punished them and went onto win the game."

Boss Naismith also offered an honest assessment of some of the calls made during the game, and although he agreed with the decision to send Yang off, the former Scotland forward admitted that Iwata's handball that lead to his own side's own penalty kick to broke the deadlock was a bit fortunate..

On Yang's red card, he said: "The decision is right, because other similar red cards have been given. Alex is going to head it at head height, and the guy's studs are in his face. The penalty for us is very soft as well. I get the referees have a difficult job, the whole handball rule isn't right at the moment and we've benefitted from that.

"You can feel the pressure of having an extra man, having to force the ball. It evens the game out. We managed the game brilliantly, Celtic were chasing at the end of the game and we were breaking through them. If anything, we could have scored more goals.

He went on: “I think both penalties are soft. Alex Cochrane puts his foot on the ground and the Celtic forward (Yang) is the one that kicks him. Ours is this handball rule that nobody is happy with and I think the red card is a red card.

“It is what it is. The game goes on. We saved our penalty and scored the one that we got. Overall we deserve our win comfortably. It was two and it could have been more.”