9th May 2026; Fir Park, Motherwell, Scotland; Scottish Premiership Football, Motherwell versus Heart of Midlothian; Heart of Midlothian manager Derek McInnes
Derek McInnes was playing at games again on Saturday night with his media partners at Sky Sports.
For the second time this season a match against St Mirren had been decided by penalty decisions. The Paisley side lost out both times.
On Saturday night Nick Walsh did the damage when he awarded a penalty as James Penrice fell over in the penalty box.
Walsh, who’ll be back at the day job today working on the education and fitness of Murray Park starlets was perfectly placed to view the incident.
There was a certain level of pleasure on his face as he awarded the penalty.
He absolutely knew that Greg Aitken on VAR wasn’t going to contradict him. Aitken is from Kilmarnock and shows off a fun touchline picture with Ally McCoist on his Facebook profile.
As social media replayed and highlighted the dive from Penrice Ryan Naderi scored with the penalty, His side eventually won 2-0.
@ScotlandSky Lying fkn rat, they watched it straight away in the dug out, if he thought it was a penalty he’d say, he knows they got away with a” disgusting ” decision.
— Derek McWhinnie 122???????? (@DerekMcwhinnie) November 7, 2026
Sky did highlight the penalty incident but refused to challenge Kris Boyd on his line that you can’t criticise the referee or question his judgement.
MCINNES AND BOYD- TWO OF A KIND
That was exactly what Boyd and McInnes did in May for a match that they didn’t even attend.
The former Rangers duo were at Tynecastle where Hearts beat Falkirk 3-0. The SPFL had a podium on hand to present the Premiership trophy if Celtic had lost at Motherwell.
After the Hearts win there was only one talking point for the obsessed duo. Boyd and McInnes could discuss nothing other than Celtic’s penalty at Motherwell.
The one where Sam Nicholson put his elbow into Auston Trusty’s face then used his hand to clear a long throw from Tony Ralston. To the surprise of no-one referee John Beaton awarded Motherwell a throw-in.
Fortunately VAR stepped in to give the correct decision. As it should have for St Mirren on Saturday.
McInnes has a very selective memory for incidents that he is involved in.
Over the last three matches there was the extended handshake and confrontation with Wouter Vrancken at Tynecastle.
The unpunished Penrice karate kick on Afeez Aremu of Aberdeen at Hampden.
Followed on Sunday by the Penrice dive against St Mirren. Some would call it disgusting.
