Shankland earns point for Hearts at Motherwell as title race goes to the wire

Hearts ensured they will go into their penultimate match of the season with at least a one-point lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership by drawing with Motherwell in a pulsating match at a packed Fir Park.

The visitors, chasing their first title since 1960, fell behind for the fifth game running when Stephen Kingsley bundled the ball into his own net, but they hit back through Lawrence Shankland just before the break.

Hearts are four points clear of Celtic, who will have the chance to reduce the deficit to one point if they defeat Rangers on Sunday.

Although visibly disappointed at full time not to eke out the victory, Derek McInnes’s team could yet seal the championship at home to Falkirk on Wednesday with a game to spare depending on how Martin O’Neill’s side fare over their next two matches.

McInnes was also left ruing “a huge moment” after his side were not awarded a penalty in the second half. The referee, Steven McLean, was called to the monitor by the VAR, Greg Aitken, after Alexandros Kyziridis went down in the box after appearing to be caught on the foot by Tawanda Maswanhise while sprinting to meet a short corner. McLean, however, stuck to his guns.

“I’m adamant it is a penalty,” said McInnes. “Greg Aitken has done his job really well –he does what he should do and brings the referee over to the monitor. And we were shocked it was not given.

“The explanation I got was, ‘yes, there’s contact, but there’s not enough contact’. Anybody who’s played football knows that because Kyziridis is sprinting four, five yards, off the mark, sharp, he doesn’t need to take a lot of contact [to go down].

“Why would he go down? It’s a short corner we’re trying to work, and he’s been caught, it’s a penalty kick. It’s such a pivotal moment, a huge moment. I thought the referee had a poor night. We’re all guilty of having poor nights but I didn’t think he’d settled the whole game.”

McInnes said Hearts “cannot dwell” on the frustration, though, as they try to get over the line in the title race. They will have to do so without key duo Craig Halkett and Marc Leonard, who both went off with serious-looking injuries.

“Bad injuries, both Achilles injuries, both will be significant time out, I think,” he said. “It’s just a bad night for both lads. Both have been brilliant this season.”

Motherwell’s manager, Jens Berthel Askou, felt the referee was right not to award Hearts a penalty, saying: “You can see that there’s a little bit of contact, but not enough to drop yourself to the ground like that and make it look like it’s the worst tackle in the history of football,” he said.

“But I have to admit I was shocked that he said no, it’s not a penalty, because we’ve had so many crazy things against us this season. We put out a really, really good performance without creating enough big opportunities.”

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