Hearts came from behind to beat Motherwell 3-1 on Saturday to maintain a three-point lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership.
The first half ended scoreless, with saves from both goalkeepers, but Hearts were under pressure to find a breakthrough in Celtic’s 1-0 win against St Mirren.
Their task became even more difficult when Motherwell, who were level with the league leaders for much of the game, took the lead five minutes into the second half. They won the ball back in midfield and things went well until Emmanuel Longello turned home Tawanda Maswanhise’s cross.
However, Hearts’ comeback began with Claudio Braga’s equalizer in the 61st minute. Stuart Findlay hit the back post with a shot from a corner kick. The Portuguese forward was then there to scoop the ball over his head and past the goalkeeper.
There was a suspicion of offside as the ball bounced inside the packed box, but VAR ruled it was onside and the goal was allowed.
20 minutes later, Hearts were awarded a penalty and VAR was called again. As the ball bounced inside the area, Stephen Welsh caught the head of Pierre Landry-Cabolet with his toe, and the home player raised his arm to take the spot-kick.
The referee made no decision, but VAR sent him to the monitor. A penalty was eventually awarded, and Hearts took the lead as Shankland smashed home against the post.
Hearts’ Lawrence Shankland scored from the penalty spot to make it 2-1 against Motherwell.
The match was decided after six minutes of stoppage time. It was the perfect place to find the Kabore run from Beni Baningime. He stood up well against the defenders but eventually got past Callum Ward to grab the all-important three points.
Hearts remain at the top of the Scottish Premiership with a three-point lead over second-placed Celtic. Rangers are third in the table, four points behind the leaders, but could close the gap against Falkirk on Sunday, which will be broadcast on Sky Sports.
What managers said
Hearts manager Derek McInnes: “There’s nothing we can do about it. We were behind, but we were still pretty calm in the sense that we thought we were going to score. Especially here at Tynecastle, we rarely don’t score.”
“Thankfully Braga had a big moment. The reaction from the players was great, which is exactly what you want. Nobody is satisfied with a draw and to be fair, so was Motherwell.”
“I thought it was a very good game. There was a lot of drama, but there was nothing better than a penalty. I didn’t watch it again, but from what I heard, and even some of the Motherwell players told me, he kicked him in the head. So it’s a penalty. You don’t often get kicked in the head, but it’s not a penalty.”
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Hearts head coach Derek McInnes said after the 3-1 win over Motherwell that his team needed a bigger result in the title race.
“But we take advantage of it, Lawrence, who has a great temperament, hides it brilliantly.
“Motherwell are not an easy team to play against. They’re not an easy team to score three goals against. We’ve managed to do it twice so far but we had to dig deep to do it.”
“They are a team that will test our organization. 50% of our starting eleven haven’t played and that was always a concern for me because we need energy, fitness and sharpness to deal with Motherwell.”
“It says a lot about them that they found what it took to pull them off the canvas again and get the win.”
Motherwell manager Jens Bertel Askou: “It’s a shame for the game to end up like that (penalty). Whenever there’s contact, you can argue there was a foul. It’s about the amount of contact, the speed of contact and the circumstances.”
“But what I want to stress again is that I’m really, really proud of our performance.
“We were able to control a very difficult game against a very good team. They’re really good at what they do and have an atmosphere that really drives them, and not being there can be mentally unstable. We dealt with that very well.
“Some of the plays we made in the second half were really great, leading to chances and goals for us.”
