Lawrence Shankland scored a second-half winner as Hearts defeated Aberdeen 2-1 at Tynecastle to crank up the heat on their opponents in the battle for third place in the cinch Premiership.
The Dons arrived at Tynecastle boasting a five-point lead over the Jambos and they looked on course to kill off their hosts’ hopes of catching them when Mattie Pollock headed the opening goal just after the half hour.
Hearts interim manager Steven Naismith felt referee David Dickinson got three major decisions wrong in his side’s 2-2 draw with St Mirren.
The 10-man Jambos earned an unlikely point when second-half goals from Josh Ginnelly and a Lawrence Shankland penalty deep into added time cancelled out first-half strikes from Joe Shaughnessy and Ryan Strain.
Steven Naismith insists Hearts go into Saturday’s crunch game against St Mirren with increased confidence despite suffering defeat by Celtic last week.
The Hoops clinched the cinch Premiership title with a 2-0 win at Tynecastle, where goals from Kyogo Furuhashi and Oh Hyeon-gyu came after the home side lost Alex Cochrane to a contentious VAR-assisted red card on the stroke of half-time.
Peter Haring is hoping Hearts can spoil Celtic’s cinch Premiership title party on Sunday.
A victory at Tynecastle – or a Rangers slip-up at home to Aberdeen – will ensure the Hoops secure the trophy for the second year running, but the Jambos’ Austrian midfielder is determined to prevent that scenario.
Steven Naismith is hopeful that the improvement Josh Ginnelly has enjoyed at Hearts will help persuade the attacker to commit his future to the club.
The former Burnley, Walsall and Preston player – approaching the end of his third campaign with the Jambos – has emerged as a key man this term and is the Edinburgh side’s second-highest scorer with 11 goals to his name.
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