Former Hearts and Rangers stars deliver 'soft' verdict on Hibs penalty controversy

One of the main talking points of the Premiership weekend came when a debatable penalty decision ensured Hibs could only claim a point from their visit to Ross County.

David Gray’s in-form side made a positive start to the contest at the Global Energy Stadium and eventually grabbed the lead just before half-time when some neat play from Nectarios Triantis allowed midfielder Dylan Levitt to provide a cool finish beyond the helpless home keeper Jordan Amissah. That came just under 15 minutes after Hibs keeper Jordan Smith produced a fine save to keep out a penalty from Jordan White after Nicky Cadden was somewhat harshly judged to have handled in the area.

However, there would be further penalty controversy inside the final minutes of the game after Smith was punished for bringing down County substitute Kieran Phillips and that allowed Ronan Hale to succeed where White had failed as hie netted from 12 yards to ensure his side snatched a point. The decision was a major talking point on BBC’s Sportscene as Steven Naismith and Michael Stewart both had their say over the call.

Former Hearts and Rangers forward Naismith sided with Gray after he described the penalty as soft but believes County forward Phillips was right to ‘ask the question’ of the officials after he was brought down by the Hibs stopper.

Naismith told Sportscene: “I think it’s a penalty but I think it is soft. As a forward, if I see a goalie rushing out I’m going to ask the question all day long and I think that’s what they do here. It’s a big moment at the end of the game where it doesn’t give Hibs a lot of time to get back in control of the game. For me, it’s a penalty and the forward is in full control as the ball comes in.

Fellow pundit Michael Stewart believes the blame over the penalty should lie with Hibs defensive duo Rocky Bushiri and Jack Iredale after they allow County substitute Phillips to break in on goal before he was upended by the advancing Smith. The four-times capped former Scotland international stressed a lack of communication between the duo led to the incident as he agreed with Hibs boss Gray’s description of the penalty as ‘avoidable’.

Stewart responded: “You heard David Gray talk about it in terms of avoidable, I think you can see here Smith catches Phillips but the avoidable part of that for me is Rocky Bushiri and (Jack) Iredale are standing on the edge of the box and there’s too big a gap between the two of them to allow the striker to run through the middle. There needs to be a better communication there. It looks at one moment as if Bushiri is trying to pass him on to Iredale. He needs to close that gap, you can’t allow that ball to come in there and for the striker just to be running in the middle of the goal on to the ball there. Late on in the game like that, concentration, close the gap and don’t allow that to happen.”

Despite dropping two points at the weekend, Hibs still lie just five points adrift of the top five and Stewart believes Gray’s side show have their sights set on claiming a return to European competition throughout the remainder of the season.

The former Hibs and Hearts midfielder said: “Obviously that’s one side of it and it also shows the horrendous drop-off Aberdeen have had. But for David Gray, things have turned around and they are now able to look up and go and challenge for the European spots.”