| Naismith provokes Hearts after winner • Missiles thrown, assistant referee hit• Hearts condemn supporters' misbehaviourHearts believe Steven Naismith's goal celebrations will feature in the report of the match referee and so limit their inevitable punishment from the Scottish Football Association.Hearts supporters aimed missiles including coins and lighters at Naismith, who appeared to taunt them after having scored a 94th-minute winner for Rangers. One coin hit Willie Conquer, the assistant referee, with the incident certain to be included in reports filed to both the SFA and the Scottish Premier League.Senior Hearts officials understand the referee, Craig Thomson, will acknowledge that Naismith behaved provocatively towards the home fans."I wasn't hit but I saw a few coins fly by," said Naismith. "I just hit the deck."Hearts issued a statement condemning the scenes, which read: "This is an utterly unacceptable situation and Hearts will pursue those who have let the good name of the club down."We will take very strong action. There is no place at Tynecastle for what happened and we apologise unreservedly to Mr Conquer for the incident."A fine, possibly suspended, is the most serious sanction Hearts are likely to incur.After an incident-filled afternoon in Edinburgh, the Hearts manager, Jim Jefferies, also berated Thomson for allowing five minutes of stoppage time. Naismith cared little about that as he maintained Rangers' perfect league record. The former Kilmarnock player, who has endured an injury-plagued time at Ibrox, completed his team's comeback after Rudi Skacel had given Hearts an early lead."I know the league table shows that we've won every game so far but it's not as if it is getting any easier," Naismith said."It would have lingered for the full two weeks we are away on international duty if we hadn't beaten Hearts. It's never nice to drop points and it would have been a long time before we'd have had the chance to rectify it. It was massive to get the points in the end."The Rangers duo of Lee McCulloch and Kirk Broadfoot will report for international duty with Scotland this week despite missing the Tynecastle win through injury. McCulloch, who has a hip problem, is suspended for the Scots' game in the Czech Republic on Friday but is wanted by Craig Levein for Spain's visit to Glasgow a week on Tuesday.Man of the match Ismael Bouzid (Hearts)Scottish Premier LeagueHeartsRangersEwan Murrayguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
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