Hearts' Lawrence Shankland responds to fan taunts about his weight - plus referee conversation at Aberdeen

Lawrence Shankland has revealed details of his onfield conversation with referee John Beaton during Hearts’ 3-2 defeat at Aberdeen on Sunday. In an exclusive interview with the Edinburgh News, the Tynecastle captain explained the process following Aberdeen’s disputed second goal and how Beaton reacted to Hearts’ complaints.

Nicky Devlin levelled the match at 2-2 before substitute Ante Palaversa scored a late winner for the hosts. Hearts left the north east feeling aggrieved in more ways than one. Having gone 1-0 down to Topi Keskinen’s deflected strike, the visitors recovered to lead 2-1 through Frankie Kent’s header and Blair Spittal’s powerful drive. Losing out left them still bottom of the Premiership and Shankland detailed some of their frustrations.

The ball was not stationary when Aberdeen’s Graeme Shinnie took a 64th-minute free-kick which led to Devlin’s equaliser. Shankland and Jorge Grant complained to Beaton, Grant was cautioned for dissent, and would be sent off 10 minutes later for a second yellow card after fouling the Aberdeen substitute Duk. Shankland said Beaton assured him that the incident was checked by VAR.

“I repeated to the referee that the ball was moving when he played it and it led to a goal,” said Shankland. “Then it’s the job of VAR to check those things. I asked: ‘Could we check it?’ I got: ‘Why are you still talking to me? Why are you still talking to me?’ he repeated. Jorge has received a booking at that point. I asked again: ‘Could it be checked?’ ‘Aye, it’s already been checked.’ And that was it. So I don’t know the rules of football, currently.

READ MORE: Former Hearts coach gets a new job in China with Man City’s sibling club

“The booking Jorge gets for pointing out that the ball is moving - and we have seen it moving - leads to him being sent off. Obviously he is on a booking and he makes a silly tackle, but he forgets he’s on the booking to be honest. That came from a decision which was, in my head, wrong. I’m all for letting the game flow but 99.9 per cent of the time, if the ball is moving, the referee will stop the game and restart it.”

IFAB Rules of the Game do not allow restarts of play to be analysed by VAR. However, because the one at Pittodrie led to a goal, Hearts felt strongly that it should be part of a routine goal review. Beaton assured Shankland that it definitely was looked at. “Aye, I asked: ‘Can they check that?’ He said: ‘It’s already been checked.’ I just had to agree because I was on a booking and I couldn’t say much more,” said the striker. Don Robertson was in charge of VAR on the day, assisted by Andrew McWilliam.

The final scoreline left Hearts without a domestic win after beating Dinamo Minsk in their opening Conference League tie three days beforehand. “The be-all-and-end-all is the result and we lost. The performance and desire, off the back of Thursday, was good,” said Shankland.

“It’s always difficult but we didn’t let it affect us at all. We were ready for the game and played well throughout. We are level at half-time and towards the end of the first half we were dictating the game. The second half was even but you are away from home and you need to ride things out at times. We lost a second goal, lost a man and then lost a third which has killed us. It’s disappointing.

“Aberdeen are joint-top of the league so we knew it would be difficult. We are going through a tough period domestically but I don’t think we looked like a team going through a tough time. I thought we looked really good at times. Aberdeen caused us some problems, that was always going to be the case. Overall, as an away performance at Pittodrie, I’d imagine it’s one of the tougher games they have had.

READ MORE: The change which ignited Blair Spittal

“They are competitive games [with Aberdeen]. Not right now, but usually the two teams are going for third place and that can create a wee rivalry. You need to get involved in that. Of course, you receive a bit of stick on the back of it but that’s part of football.”

The taunts can become rather extreme at times but Shankland shrugs them off. He regularly hears merciless jibes about his weight from supporters across Scotland during matches and manages to ignore them. “I get that every week,” he replied with a smile. “If I had a hundred quid for every chorus of ‘You Fat B*******’ then I wouldn’t be playing football any more. It’s part of football. I dish it out so you need to take it on the chin - or in this case, chins.”

He is determined to take a humorous approach despite Hearts’ current position in the league table. The 29-year-old is now on international duty with Scotland ahead of Nations League ties with Croatia and Portugal. At that level, he finds himself competing with Birmingham City’s Lyndon Dykes and Torino’s Ché Adams - the latter having scored four goals in his last nine games for the Serie A club.

“That [competition] has been the case for a long time. You just need to go and train well, do what you do,” explained Shankland. “Everybody will have their role when the games start, so you just play your role to the best of your ability. Portugal [away in September] was a positive performance even though we lost the game in the end. I think the boys will be looking forward to playing another two tough games against two top teams.

“We have played good opposition since the Euros. The stakes are so high at a major tournament and we’ve tested ourselves against a lot of top teams. It’s important for the group to gauge ourselves against that. We see the positives of playing those matches.”