The controversial late penalty that helped Hearts in title race
The controversial late penalty that helped Hearts in title race Hearts won on a dramatic afternoon in the Scottish Premiership as Derek McInnes’ side came from behind to beat Motherwell. The Tynecastle side went behind but the late penalty helped maintain the Jambos spot at the top of the table, even if it looked as if Motherwell were unlucky not to leave with something. The major talking point came after Stephen Welsh was penalised for a foul in the box on Kabore.
Matthew MacDermid was instructed by his colleague on VAR Steven McLean to watch the sequence of play before pointing to the spot. Lawrence Shankland netted to make it 2-1 in the 87th minute. The decision appears to go against the IFAB rules, which prohibits a player heading the ball while on the ground.
They state that this accounts for playing in a dangerous manner is any action that, while trying to play the ball, threatens injury to someone (including the player themselves). Hearts will go into the split at the top of the table with Celtic moving up into second, ahead of Rangers that play tomorrow. Celtic have three home games after the split while their title opponents have two each.