Hearts penalty was mindblowing but Hibs won't find SFA apologies any use in top six fight - Tam McManus

Hibs were robbed of a first derby win in enemy territory for four years by a decision that was verging on criminal.

Make no mistake Hearts got out of jail at Tynecastle and no apologies in the world will erase the frustration Nick Montgomery must be feeling after that penalty award. Ref Kevin Clancy’s outrageous call to hand Lawrence Shankland the chance to equalise from the spot cost Hibs a long-awaited victory in Gorgie. But more to the point it stopped them moving into the top six.

Instead they are still stuck in the bottom half and with games running out that’s now two huge decisions that have gone against them - no doubt cost them four points - in the last two weeks. It’s simply not good enough in the VAR age. To go to Tynecastle and be the better team is difficult but that’s exactly what Hibs were. Unfortunately they were undone by the spot kick howler.

I just can’t understand what Clancy was thinking as he stood by his decision to penalise Will Fish for his challenge on Kenneth Vargas. On first viewing it might look like a foul but the ref has the advantage of having another look on the monitor.

The video assistants clearly think he’s made a mistake but for him to stick with his original decision is mindblowing. To say it’s a soft award doesn’t really do the mistake justice - it’s simply not even a foul.

There’s the slightest brushing of ankle and hip but Vargas goes down like he’s been shot from the grassy knoll. It’s a really, really poor decision and HIbs have been on the wrong end of a lot of them this season.

We speak about fine margins and luck. Well they are due a huge rub of the green soon because the Nicky Devlin handball incident at Aberdeen and last night’s blunder were two horrific decisions.

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