Hearts and Hibs referee appointments ahead of Dundee United and Kilmarnock clashes

Hearts and Hibs referee | SNS Group

Hearts host Dundee United this Sunday as they look to pick up their first league win of the season. It has been a slow start for Steven Naismith’s side.

They drew 0-0 at home to Rangers in their first game but have since lost back-to-back clashes against Dundee and Motherwell. Only Celtic and Rangers finished higher than them last term.

As for Hibs, they underperformed last season and are hoping that David Gray can steady the ship. They are on their travels this weekend to Kilmarnock as they aim for a positive result.

The Edinburgh outfit drew 2-2 with Dundee in their last outing. They have one point on the board so far. Here is a look at the referee appointments...

Hearts

Sunday 1st September, Hearts vs Dundee United, Tynecastle Park, KO: 15:00

Referee: Nick Walsh

Assistant Referee 1: Andy Milne

Assistant Referee 2: David Dunne

Fourth Official: Craig Napier

VAR: Alan Muir and Gary Hilland

Walsh, who is 33-years-old, has been with the Scottish FA since 2013 and refereed the most recent Scottish Cup final between Rangers and Celtic in which the latter won. He was the man in the middle for Hearts’ opening day draw against Rangers.

Naismith has called for an improvement from his side and said after their loss at Motherwell: “Every one of the goals today was preventable. We were poor in both boxes and gave up easy chances. That’s where the frustration comes from because we created some decent chances ourselves.

 “You could see the lift in energy when Yutaro takes his goal, but that’s been a recurring theme this season. We’ve seen periods of good play in our first five games but there needs to be an improvement and quickly. We’re giving the opposition goals and chances that are too easy, so we need to work on rectifying that.”

Hibs

Sunday 1st September, Kilmarnock vs Hibs, Rugby Park, KO: 15:00

Referee: Calum Scott

Assistant Referee 1: Ross MacLeod

Assistant Referee 2: Steven Traynor

Fourth Official: Greg Soutar

VAR: Don Robertson and Dougie Potter

Scott has worked five games so far this season, three of which have come in the Scottish Cup and two in the Scottish Championship. He has overseen 121 matches so far in his career but only four of which have come in the top flight.

Gray also wants to see his players do better ahead of their upcoming matches: “I’ve spoken about mistakes for a few weeks now. One thing we can’t keep having to do is scoring three, four, five goals to win a football match.

“Everyone knows where we need to improve. It’s not directed at any individual; it’s collective. We need to make sure everyone is pulling in the same direction, reflected, and working on the pitch every day to address the problems.”