Joel Nouble claims Alan Forrest admitted he handled the ball in the build-up to Hearts’ last gasp equaliser.
Livingston were forced to settle for a point in Gorgie after Josh Ginnelly smashed home a 97th-minute equaliser following a multitude of VAR checks ensured a big chunk of injury time at Tynecastle. The visitors led through Steven Kelly’s 66th minute strike and should have doubled their advantage from the spot after Kyle Rowles was penalised and sent off for a shirt tug on Nouble as he shot at Craig Gordon.
Kelly took the spot-kick, but Gordon kept the 10 men in it with a massive save from 12 yards. Robbie Neilson’s men huffed and puffed before Ginnelly finally blew Livi’s house down, lashing home into the roof of the net with the last kick of the game. However, Davie Martindale was left fuming on the touchline, asking why a potential penalty on Nouble at the other end wasn't checked, and that was before the issue of Forrest’s handball.
The ex-Lion appeared to handle as he raced forwards before picking out Ginnelly in the area to set up the goal. And Noble says his former teammate has confirmed it was in fact handball.
He said: “I could be biased and say it’s a foul (from Sibbick)," the Livi forward said. "I asked the ref and he said he didn’t think there was enough contact for a foul.
“That’s his opinion and I won’t doubt it. They were checking for a handball at first and even the Hearts player said it was a handball. So, we’re like ‘if even they’re saying it’s a handball...’
“I haven’t seen the replay so I can’t fully say. But the ref said to the linesman ‘if I get it wrong I’ll take the blame.’ So he knows it’s a handball but he thinks it’s not intentional. No one intentionally handles it… but that’s VAR.
“Hearts are buzzing about it, we’re not. That’s football.”
Neilson queried afterwards why Rowles was sent off for denying a goalscoring opportunity even though Nouble was able to take a shot on goal. The big forward conceded the Hearts boss has a point, but pointed out that his stature means that he gets pulled all over the place most weeks without defenders being punished for it.
He added: "That’s fair but if I was a shorter player, people wouldn’t say that," Nouble replied. "People say ‘he’s a big player, he’s got to deal with it’, so if a player goes over the top of me I don’t get it. But if it’s a shorter player, it’s a foul all day.
“I feel the pull, but I get pulled every second time so for me, it’s normal. I was more annoyed about not scoring the chance. It’s a great save from (Craig) Gordon, to be fair, but that’s what I was more annoyed about.
“When I came back round, instead of looking at the penalty I went to the side and said ‘I did get pulled but I’m not sure it’s enough for a pen, so we’ll see’. But the way VAR’s been going, the amount of penalties being given, it feels like anything in the box gets given.”
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