Critical Hearts moment leaves rival stunned as refereeing flashpoint sparks frustration after big Jambos win
Hearts clinched a big win at the weekend over Dundee.
A Premiership rival admits Craig Gordon’s stunning save for Hearts sparked disbelief - as a refereeing moment in Dundee resulted in frustration.
The Jambos clinched a 1-0 win over the Dark Blues on Sunday thanks to a Claudio Braga strike. Derek McInnes’ side played the entire second half at Dens Park with 10 men after goalkeeper Alexander Schwolow’s red card and replacement, club legend Gordon, made an unbelievable low stop to deny Emile Acquah a stoppage time leveller.
It broke Dundee hearts and Ethan Hamilton, who captained the team with Dens Park skipper Simon Murray, couldn’t believe it. They were ready to celebrate before watching Gordon claw the ball away from danger to ensure Hearts stay top of the league by three points.
Dundee on Hearts save by Craig Gordon
Hamilton said: "It was some save. Emile's got his head on it and we're almost half running off celebrating. It was disappointing as we felt we created quite a lot of pressure in the second half. We wanted to score from one of the chances, but we take confidence from that performance and those in the last few games.”
One moment that has left Hamilton and Dundee miffed is Braga’s goal, after they felt a free kick up in the build-up was not taken from its original spot. He said as Dundee look to a Scottish Cup clash with Kilmarnock: "It was frustrating, but we just had to try to react to it. The ref said it was checked and then moved on from it.
"When they say that, there's not much you can say to them or question. These things happen in football and we had the rest of the game to try to get something. Unfortunately we just couldn't do it, but we can take a little bit of confidence and feel like we're definitely moving in the right direction.
Dundee on loss to Hearts
"We just need to keep nudging it forward and progressing. We've felt it's been there and it's been building lately. We've seen the fruits of our hard work over the last four games. The manager's always on to us to keep pushing.
"When you've got young players and new players, you've got to get used to each other, different balances. We know we've got really, really exciting players in our team. If we can get a ball wide to whoever's playing there Cam Congreve, Tony Yogane, Charlie Reilly, anyone who's out on that wing, they're very, very dangerous, whipping balls across.
"We've just got to keep doing that and keep trying to build on what we're doing. It's been positive, but we've still got a lot of hard work ahead. I'm looking forward to playing in the Cup for the first time, that's exciting. It's a different competition and something to look forward to. We'll be given the information this week on Kilmarnock and how we can best attack it. I enjoyed playing in the FA Cup down the road as well. They're always good occasions and you get a little bit of that buzz in the game.”