Rabble rouser- Neilson accused of stoking the fire over Griffiths

Robbie Neilson has been accused of stoking the flames as Leigh Griffiths ran the gauntlet at Tynecastle yesterday.

The Hearts boss likes to fire off soundbites with the visit of Dundee to Gorgie yesterday getting his full attention.

Hearts fans like to blame a vote by Dundee for their demotion during Lockdown with Neilson quitting as manager of promoted Dundee United to return to Tynecastle.

Last season Hearts won promotion back to the Premiership at the first attempt while Dundee took the scenic route through the play-offs to return to the top flight after two seasons in The Championship.

James McPake’s side earned a point with a late goal at Tynecastle yesterday but after the match he called out his opposite number in the Hearts dug-out.

Discussing Neilson, the Dundee boss told The Sun:

I don’t think it helps when opposition managers are coming out and saying it’s going to be a white-hot atmosphere to say the least. We knew that there would be 20,000 fans and that Leigh is a target.

He will go to the ‘voting scandal’ and this and that’ – we have played three times since then. He was also the manager of Dundee United back then.

I don’t think there was a need to say that and maybe he should concentrate on his own team. Rightly so, he wants to get fans up for it but they had the chance to go top of the league.

Certain comments don’t help the situation with Leigh. It is stoking the fire and I didn’t like that.

Griffiths played for 70 minutes before being replaced by former Celtic striker Cillian Sheridan. Ex Hibs striker Jason Cummings scored the Dundee equaliser.