Hearts fans drunk on drama as intoxicating title race takes twist

Breaking news from the world of sport: Hearts fans drunk on drama as intoxicating title race takes twistImage source, SNSImage caption, Lawrence Shankland was in the right place at the right time to earn Hearts an equaliserByTom English Scotland's chief sports writer at Fir ParkPublished40 minutes agoMuch more of this and there's going to be a run on heart-rate monitors among the maroon-clad folk from Edinburgh. Every Hearts game is a pulse-quickening drama now. Every tackle, every header, every kick a palpitation-inducing moment.

And every contentious call an invitation to erupt. And erupt Hearts did in this frantic contest at Motherwell. When Alexandros Kyziridis went down in an incident with Tawanda Maswanhise in the 68th minute, it looked like Hearts were getting an opportunity to make it 2-1 from the spot.

Match Details

Referee Steven McLean said no. VAR Greg Aitken said 'hold your horses'. Aitken got McLean over to the screen, but McLean was unmoved.

"He was impeded," Hearts manager Derek McInnes said later. "It's such a poor decision. I don't understand why that's not a penalty.

"Wonder of wonders, Jens Berthel Askou disagreed: "Not enough in it," said the Motherwell manager. "Some sort of contact, but minimal. Kyziridis makes it look like there's more contact than there is.

Reactions and Expectations

"People see what they want to see, but this season will have an end-game to conjure with. A historically brilliant campaign will surely go to the wire now. Time will tellHearts were unbeaten and unbowed, but damaged.

Two points dropped and two players down. Marc Leonard and the wonderful lynchpin at the back, Craig Halkett, were invalided out of the action. And out of the last two games of the season.

At the end, the players went to their fans to thank them for their support, which was unceasingly loud and passionate even on full-time, when the draw was confirmed. Their throats would have been in need of a soothing nectar last night. They will try to convince themselves that a point at Fir Park is not a bad thing, especially since Celtic have to go there on Wednesday.

The story has climbed to the top of the sports agenda, with fans and analysts following closely.