Hearts penalty debate draws unanimous verdict as Hibs frustration escalated with 'dive' accusation

Hibs were left far from happy with Clancy sticking to his original decision in the 1-1 draw with Hearts.

Clancy opted to stick with his call to enrage Hibs but give Hearts a major chance.

Three former players have been left perplexed by Kevin Clancy's penalty decision in the Edinburgh derby between Hearts and Hibs.

There was anger from the away end after Will Fish was deemed to have tripped Kenneth Vargas up in the box. VAR did call referee Kevin Clancy over to check the monitor but the experience referee opted to stick by his original decision.

Emiliano Marcondes had put the away side in front at Tynecastle. Lawrence Shankland converted the resulting spot-kick to keep Hibs in the bottom six ahead of facing Ross County this weekend.

That left Hibs gutted and former Hibee Stuart Lovell, on punditry duty for Livingston vs Motherwell with Chris Sutton and James McFadden, couldn't believe it. He watched the incident and made a loaded claim in the wake of it.

He told Sky Sports: "We have seen this a couple of times and I don't think any of us agree with the decision. I don't think any of us think this is a penalty. This when you see it, normal speed, slow mo, it's a dive.

"Pure and simple. People say there was contact. That is not enough to make a person fall to the floor. It's absolutely minimal.

"For a referee to make the decision, VAR say 'you sure about this' and say yes I am happy with the decision? Bonkers."

Former Celtic striker Sutton agreed: "I agree with everything Stuart said. There has to be sufficient contact to go to ground. I am really surprised."

Scotland and Motherwell hero James McFadden was also in the camp of Clancy getting on the wrong side of the call. He added: "It's just a collision. It's not a challenge, really. It's not a penalty for me and I think the referee has got that one wrong."