'What's softer than soft?' - Hearts boss Craig Levein reacts to contentious penalty

Craig Levein was unhappy with the penalty award against his team.

Leading 2-1, the Gorgie side were pegged back from the penalty spot as ex-Hibs winger Matty Kennedy slotted past Zdenek Zlamal.

It followed the award from Andrew Dallas who claimed to Hearts assistant coach Austin MacPhee that Peter Haring pulled Liam Gordon's jersey in the box. Footage suggests otherwise.

Levein was reluctant to delve too deep into the referee's performance following his strong words regarding Bobby Madden's performance during the team's 2-1 defeat at home to Rangers on Sunday - the winning goal came from Alfredo Morelos in an offside position.

He said: "What’s softer than soft? I’ve only seen three angles and I can’t see anything. I really don’t want to go down that road.

"It’s a test of character for my players and for myself and our supporters.

"All credit to the boys. We built on our performance on Sunday, this is a notoriously difficult place to get anything from. They have been on a great run of form, not conceding any goals.

"I thought we were pretty good. We’re not back to the levels that we can be and we won’t be until we get our main players back. It was another step forward after Sunday."

Levein was able to find a number of positives from the game, including another 90 minutes for captain Christophe Berra.

"I was really pleased with him, Clevid was much better today. Sean Clare’s getting better all the time and I thought Arnaud Djoum had his best game of the season so far.

"They were a lot of positives but I find it really difficult to believe what’s happened."