Hearts 'cheated' out of penalty shootout by John Beaton as Gary Mackay urges Jambos to demand SFA answers

Beaton showed Cammy Devlin a second yellow card in extra time against Aberdeen after dismissing Michael Steinwender

Gary Mackay claims Hearts were "cheated" out of a penalty shootout with Aberdeen and has urged the club to demand answers form the SFA over John Beaton's performance.

Beaton showed sent Michael Steinwender off two minutes before the break after the Austrian wiped out Topi Keskinen, then flashed a second yellow at Cammy Devlin with just four minutes left of extra-time, after the Aussie caught Dante Polvara when attempting to make a clearance.

And the Dons took advantage to eventually find a way past nine-man Hearts when Oday Dabbagh scored the winner two minutes later to send Jimmy Thelin's side through to the final.

Jambos boss Neil Critchley was fuming with the whistler - who sent off his assistant Mike Garrity after the final whistle - and accused Beaton of lacking respect when he tried to question him.

And Hearts legend Mackay wants the Tynecastle hierarchy to ask the SFA to explain Beaton's display.

He said: “You want the club to definitely make a stance and get in touch with SFA and demand some kind of explanation.

“If you've had three apologies this season (from the SFA) that could be costly and that's the difference between bottom six and top six.

“It also has a financial cost and the management team are viewed a wee bit less positively.

“I always remember my old Hearts boss Alex MacDonald saying about looking at yourself in the mirror at the end of every game, looking at yourself, your teammates and thinking ‘I gave it my best'.

“I’m not sure John Beaton could look himself in the mirror after that on Saturday and I'm sure there's other times and there are things.

“We can't as a football club just bow to this guy, I think the players were cheated out of a penalty shootout opportunity.

“These professionals will maybe never get that opportunity again because of somebody's ineptitude."

Mackay points to the stats of games Beaton has refereed Hearts in and reckons they tell a story compared to other teams.

According to data from transfermarkt.co.uk, Beaton has overseen 58 Hearts games and the Gorgie side have won 19, drawn seven and lost 32.

He has also issued some 151 yellows but compared to Celtic and Aberdeen, who he has refereed 59 and 54 times he has only used 84 and 117 cautions respectively

Club record appearance holder Mackay added: “From a footballing perspective we need to make it noted.

“You look at the stats for the games John Beaton has refereed, how many we have won, lost and drawn and the amount of bookings and red cards.

"We cannot allow these things to continue to happen and particularly if it's an individual who seems to get a lot of Hearts games.

"It's mind-boggling, 151 yellow cards.

"What Heart of Midlothian Football Club need to do is say to (Scottish FA chief executive) Ian Maxwell, 'are these numbers what you would be expecting from a referee refereeing in these amount of games?'.

“It's the players I feel for because so many players left every single thing on the pitch on Saturday and they could look at themselves in the mirror after the game and say, yep they gave it their best shot.

"But then I look at the referee and as a spectacle for the Hearts fans and players it was ruined by one individual.”

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