ROBBIE NEILSON, the Hearts manager, defended his team's disciplinary record despite suffering a fifth red card of the season in their goal-less draw at Hamilton.
But the home side’s Darren Lyon believed he was lucky to escape serious injury after being caught badly by Igor Rossi, who was sent off, by a tackle that even Hearts captain Alim Ozturk described as stupid.
Neilson believes his foreign players are being punished, Rossi is Brazilian, because they are still finding their way in the Scottish game.
“The red card was the right decision,” said Neilson. “If you go in with your two feet it’s a red card, end of story. He’s going to miss next week and only has himself to blame.”
When asked about his side’s record, Neilson added: “Do you know what they (red cards and bookings) were for? A lot of them weren’t for bad tackles – they were for silly things. It’s boys coming over to this country not knowing the environment and how things are dealt with. What you can get away with and what you can’t get away with.
‘We got a boy sent off at St Johnstone (Juanma for a headbutt) but if you do that in Greece or in Spain nobody cares. You just get on with it. Whereas here if someone goes down you get a red card. They have to learn to adapt that the style."
Hamilton’s Lyon wasn’t quite so understanding given he was the one hurt in the challenge with Rossi.
“I don’t want to dwell on it too much, it’s their responsibility," said Lyon. "I thought it was a lunge, a clumsy lunge. I just saw his two feet fly into me and tried to avoid it as much as I could. He caught me a bit but if he had caught me cleanly I would probably have been out for a wee while.”
Asked if it could have broken his leg, he said: "If I hadn’t seen it quickly then probably. It’s up to them to deal with it.”
Neilson and Hamilton midfielder Darian Mackinnon exchanged words at half-time and Martin Canning, the Hamilton manager, was unhappy with his player's treatment.
“Darian is an experienced player but I felt right from the start they were in the fourth official's ear about Darian’s two or three tackles," said Canning. "He got booked in the melee after the sending off and I just felt it wasn’t a risk worth taking leaving him on the park.
“I felt they would be at him to try and get him booked to get him sent off. So it was a risk not worth taking."
With minutes to go, Jesus Tena did get himself sent off for Hamilton, a decision Canning had no issue with.
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