Hearts will find out today if they will receive any retrospective action for Stevie Naismith’s stamp on Scott Brown during the Scottish Cup Final.
Naismith planted his foot on Scott Brown while the Celtic captain was on the ground, the referee took no action at the time, had he seen it, Naismith’s cup final appearance would’ve been cut short.
Celtic won in the end, but it was a hard slog, Naismith played his part in Hearts resurgence throughout the game but it could have been so different.
Speaking to ThisIsFutbol, former Premier League referee, Mark Halsey questioned the player’s decision to put his foot down on Brown when there was an opportunity to plant it elsewhere
“It’ll be interesting to see if the Scottish FA take retrospective action because when you look at that – I’ve refereed Steven Naismith – you look at that and think – could the player have planted his foot somewhere? And you have to say yes – he could have planted his foot somewhere else.
“So, there’s an argument to say that he should’ve been sent off for violent conduct stamping on an opponent so, I think he’s got away with one there.”
The SFA fast track disciplinary panel has until 3pm on Tuesday to cite the Hearts player for the incident. If this passes, it means they will take no further action.
We know the game is done with and Celtic have won the trophy but had this been Brown stamping on another player, we’d have had podcasts and full pages in the newspaper about it.
