Lawrence Shankland has had his say on weight jibes from opposing fans and lifted the lid on what referee John Beaton said about Aberdeen’s equalising goal at the weekend.
The Jambos put in one of their best performances of the season at Pittodrie and led at one point through Blair Spittal’s screamer. Frankie Kent had earlier equalised Topi Keskinen’s first half opener for the hosts.
But Nicky Devlin squared it up again and when Jorge Grant was red carded for a second bookable offence, things got more difficult for the Jambos.
And the pressure finally told in the 88th minute when Ante Palaversa struck a later winner to sink Hearts and keep their winless domestic run going.
Hearts striker Shankland on end of weight taunts
As the outstanding performner in the Premiership last season, Shankland hasn’t hit the same heights yet and has just one goal to his name.
Opposing fans have lapped that up, especially the Red Army after his spell in the north-east, and there were more taunts on Sunday.
Reacting, the 29-year-old joked to the Edinburgh Evening News: “I get that every week. If I had a hundred quid for every chorus of ‘You Fat B*’ then I wouldn’t be playing football any more.
“It’s part of football. I dish it out so you need to take it on the chin – or in this case, chins.”
Aberdeen goal and Jorge Grant Hearts red card controversy
In the lead up to Devlin’s speedy equaliser after Spittal’s strike, Hearts were insistent the hosts took a quick free-kick while the boal was still rolling.
Grant was booked for protesting it and then picked up another yellow, and his marching orders, for fouling Duk.
Shankland was also involved with chatting to referee John Beaton, and has lifted the lid on what was said.
Under IFAB rules, VAR cannot get involved in restarts but the Jambos skipper claims Beaton had said it WAS checked.
He explained: “I repeated to the referee that the ball was moving when he played it and it led to a goal. Then it’s the job of VAR to check those things. I asked: ‘Could we check it?’ I got: ‘Why are you still talking to me? Why are you still talking to me?’ he repeated.
“Jorge has received a booking at that point. I asked again: ‘Could it be checked?’ ‘Aye, it’s already been checked.’ And that was it. So I don’t know the rules of football, currently.
“The booking Jorge gets for pointing out that the ball is moving – and we have seen it moving – leads to him being sent off. Obviously he is on a booking and he makes a silly tackle, but he forgets he’s on the booking to be honest.
“That came from a decision which was, in my head, wrong. I’m all for letting the game flow but 99.9 per cent of the time, if the ball is moving, the referee will stop the game and restart it.”