New footage has emerged showing how Steven Naismith fouled Conor Hazard immediately before Hearts scored their second goal against Celtic at Hampden.
Facing a corner from the right the Hearts skipper ignored the ball as he barged into Hazard, forcing him out of contention as the ball flew across goal for Stephen Kingsley to head in at the back post.
Naismith was already on a booking when he fouled the goalkeeper with John Beaton picking up on a similar incident on the goal-line where an arm was used to floor Scott Brown. Having picked up on that incident it is hard to explain how the Lanarkshire based official missed out on a clear foul at the second Hearts goal.
— Jason Thomson HH ? (@jasonc5791) December 20, 2020
It seems as if Naismith had some sort of immunity from the Laws of the Game with Beaton deciding to take no action for a 17th minute stamp on Brown shortly before Celtic’s opening goal.
The Hearts skipper managed to get through 120 minutes with just a booking to his name but luck ran out in the penalty shoot out when Hazard saved twice to deny Naismith a winner’s medal.