Steven Naismith in Hearts penalty gripe after St Johnstone as officials 'refereeing differently' with VAR factor
dailyrecord.co.ukSteven Naismith reckons officials could be refereeing the game differently with VAR in the mix.The Hearts boss was proud as punch as the Jambos put three league wins together in the Scottish Premiership for the first time in nearly two years, with former boss Craig Levein the expected pantomime villain at Tynecastle.
But it was all in good nature on the dugout as Lawrence Shankland took credit for a Liam Boyce flick on in the only goal to separate the sides in the capital.Naismith reckons there was a grip to be had with referees for his side, however, as Hearts were not given the satisfaction of a first-half penalty when Alan Forrest felt the force of a challenge from Saints' Luke Robinson.
He said: "It’s a penalty all day long, but are referees refereeing the game differently now because they’re thinking VAR might step in, but if it doesn’t hit the threshold for clean and obvious it’s not given?
It’s a penalty, no debate about it.”He added: “A stat which I worked out earlier in the week which is incredible is that we hadn’t won three league games in a row since January 2022.
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