Classic dive as the two faces of Steven Naismith are exposed

With the help of his good friends at BBC Scotland Steven Naismith presented himself as the victim on Sunday, Nick Walsh, Andrew Dallas, the SFA and VAR had got together to deny Hearts a win over Celtic.

Outplayed throughout, the match had swung on Kyogo Furuhashi ‘being clever’ as Alex Cochrane raced into the Celtic forward from an angle with his knee hitting Kyogo’s knee.

It was a straightforward penalty, the VAR consultation was a formality. Dallas knows the battles to take on but this one was pointless, stonewall they call it.

To be fair to Naismith he knows a thing or two about ‘being clever’, earning countless penalties, free kicks and booked opponents through his gravity issues.

Here’s the current Hearts manager being clever to win a penalty against Celtic and also being sent off in the same match for diving https://t.co/nboY5NoBVO pic.twitter.com/xdj3ZGDuRD

— J (@J_113CSC) October 23, 2023

Sometimes, all too rarely diving would catch up on him, like in the the infamous 2011 Scottish Cup tie at Ibrox which launched the Broonie.

Down to 10 men Celtic outplayed their opponents, brought the match back to 2-2 when wee Naisy had a chance to run in on substitute keeper Lucasz Zaluska.

After knocking the ball past the ‘keeper the Rangers forward opted to run towards Zaluska then threw himself to the deck rather than go for the tap in.

Even Kenny Clarke couldn’t buy that, he couldn’t send off a second goalkeeper. He reached for his yellow, with Naismith already booked he was sent off with the match concluded with 10 players on each side.

Suspended for the replay Naisy watched Steven Whittaker, Madjid Bougherra and El-Hadji-Diouf get sent off as Celtic won 1-0.

Celtic are due back at Tynecastle on March 2, it is unlikely that Naismith will be on duty for Radio Scotland at that match, joining Kenny Miller, Lee McCulloch, Richard Foster and Neil McCann on the pundits rota.