Three bad injuries and three controversial penalty calls as Hearts draw at Dundee United

Hearts battled back to gain a point at Tannadice but at the cost of further injury woe

For the second time in 2022 Hearts had to contend with the worst of luck to earn a 2-2 draw at the home of Dundee United. There may have not been as many as five players struck down in the City of Discovery on this occasion, but the departures of Craig Halkett, Stephen Kingsley and Craig Gordon all had varying levels of real concern, particularly Gordon, who looks like he could have suffered a devastating leg break if still images are accurate.

There was also three instances of penalty controversy. Two were overturned, including the incident which led to Gordon’s injury, while United may feel the late decision given to Hearts for a pull on Lawrence Shankland was a soft. The striker made no mistake himself by slotting in the injury-time equaliser. Dylan Levitt had put the hosts back in front after Michael Smith cancelled out Steven Fletcher’s opener.

It leaves Robbie Neilson with gaping holes in his defence that must again be filled just after welcoming Halkett and Kingsley back from prior issues, with a trip to St Johnstone coming up on Wednesday before the Edinburgh derby encounter with Hibs at Tynecastle.

Former Hearts midfielder Arnaud Djoum handles the ball in the penalty box but, after a VAR check, referee Colin Steven decided not to award a penalty. Picture: SNS

Robbie Neilson stuck with the same team which defeated Kilmarnock 3-1 at Tynecastle last weekend. However, this had to change in the opening exchanges with Kye Rowles replacing Craig Halkett. The snake-bitten defender tried to usher the ball out of play and took an awkward step, requiring his immediate withdrawal after a few minutes of treatment.

United opened the scoring on 20 minutes. Rowles gave Fletcher a little too much time to turn and shoot, though he was a little unfortunate to see the shot deflect off him into the corner.

Further injury heartache befell Hearts on 38 minutes when Kingsley followed Halkett up the tunnel, this time with a nasty head knock. It didn’t immediately disturb their attacking play, though, as they equalised not long after. Excellent work from Cammy Devlin saw him release Smith streaking into the box for a rifled first-time finish.

Hearts thought they were going to get the chance to take the lead in first-half stoppage time when referee Colin Steven pointed to the spot after ex-Jambo Arnaud Djoum was adjudged to have handled it. The whistler changed his opinion after a VAR check.

It turned from bad to worse within two minutes of the restart. Glenn Middleton laid it off for Levitt who swept a curled first-time effort into the corner.

It should have been a two-goal lead for the hosts not long after. Middleton was again the provider, this time for Fletcher who looked certain to score only for Gordon to produce one of his vintage saves to miraculously touch it over the bar.

What next for Gordon we can only speculate, but it didn’t look good after he ran into Fletcher in a high-speed collision. He left the field on a stretcher with his leg in a brace and the aid of oxygen. A penalty was originally given but, again, the referee changed his mind after another VAR check.

That enabled Hearts to equalise in stoppage time with Shankland tucking away his 14th of the season for a share of the spoils.

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