Craig Gordon's Hearts anger as he reveals his exchange with referee - exclusive

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The goalkeeper explained his chat with Andrea Colombo

Craig Gordon today revealed details of his exchange with referee Andrea Colombo during Hearts’ 2-0 UEFA Conference League defeat at FC Copenhagen. The goalkeeper was angered by a late penalty decision given against him, but was threatened with a yellow card after protesting to the Italian official.

Hearts were 1-0 down at Parken Stadium after Amin Chiakha’s 47th-minute opening goal. With 13 minutes remaining, Gordon emerged to block a goal attempt from the teenage striker who then collided with the keeper. VAR advised Colombo to review the incident on a touchline monitor, after which a penalty was awarded. Kevin Diks converted it to put the final result beyond doubt.

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Gordon remains incensed at the decision and maintains he did not initiate contact with Chiakha and therefore did not commit any foul. The 42-year-old argued that, if anything, he deserved a free-kick as the Dane collided with him. The referee His conversation after approaching the referee was brief and merely added to his frustration.

“The referee didn't really speak much. You don't tend to get much of a conversation,” said Gordon, speaking to the Edinburgh News. “They tell you to go away and not speak, so he wasn't wanting to have a chat with me. I told him that I'd touched the ball, that we'd both touched the ball, and what was I supposed to do?

“I was standing still when the contact was made, he [Chiakha] comes through the back of the defender to get a slight touch on the ball, kicks it onto me, then follows through onto me. If that happens anywhere else on the pitch, you probably get a foul. I didn't get the foul and, for some reason, somebody looking at a TV screen has managed to interpret that in a totally different way when the ref had a good grasp of the situation in the first place.”

Hearts were preparing a late onslaught at that stage in the hope of overturning the one-goal deficit. The penalty ended any chance they had of taking a point from the trip to Denmark. “That's exactly what we said in the dressing room at half-time: 'Let's get to the last 15 minutes and have a right go. No matter what the score is, if we're one goal behind, then we've still got a chance going into the last 15 minutes,’” said Gordon, who made two magnificent reaction saves to thwart Thomas Delaney and Chiakha with Copenhagen leading 1-0.

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“We're always prepared to come out and have a go and open up the game and see what could happen, but that decision made it all the more difficult. Personally, I thought it was a good performance spoiled by one decision and one very small element of the game. That's what happens at this level, it's one second. Overall, I was happy with my performance, but I feel a little bit let down by the decision for that penalty.”

He then attempted to approach the referee at full-time but was told he would be booked if he didn’t walk away. “Yes, I did. I tried to say the same things. He'd kicked the ball into my hands, I'd touched the ball. How could he possibly look at that on a screen and think that was a penalty? He just told me to go away, that I'd get a yellow card if I continued not to protest.”

Hearts trained in Copenhagen this morning before flying back to Edinburgh to prepare for Sunday’s Premiership match at Kilmarnock. They need points to move up from their current position of 11th in the table. “Yes, on to the next one. We need to continue to win games in the league and climb the league,” stated Gordon. “It's going to be a very difficult place to go but it's a team that is near us in the league, so it's a big one.

“If we want to continue to climb and catch teams above us, then we need to be taking points from games like this. We'll recover now and get ready for that one. At the moment, outwith Rangers and Celtic, everybody is beating each other and taking points off each other. We have to come out on top of that to climb the league. We have to be getting the better of the teams round about us in this period.

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“It's going to be a tough few weeks, but we really need to try and take the results and take the performances that we have been showing into the next few games and get the results to get us up the table.”

Losing in Denmark increases pressure on Hearts’ final Conference League tie against Petrocub at Tynecastle Park next Thursday. They will likely need victory to reach the competition’s knockout round play-off. “Yes, we're also looking forward to that one. It's going to be a big one for us,” acknowledged Gordon. “We need to win the match so we're going to have to come out and really go for it. It's going to be huge. I'm sure Tynecastle will be packed and the fans right behind us to give a big effort to try and get the points that are required to reach the next round.

“At home, it's not the worst position to be in. We looked at the draw when it came out and thought that might be the case - that we might need something off the last game. That's the way it's turned out. So, yes, it's a big opportunity for us. We have to see it as a positive that we go in and try and win the game to extend our European run.”

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