Ugly scenes during Edinburgh derby as Hearts star struck by object thrown from crowd
An eventful Edinburgh derby was overshadowed by ugly scenes in the crowd after a Hearts player appeared to be struck by an object.
After a below-par start to the season for both Hearts and Hibs, both sides battled it out for bragging rights at Easter Road on Sunday afternoon in a contest which ended in stalemate.
Mykola Kukharevych's 65th minute opener for the home side was cancelled out by a late strike courtesy of youngster James Wilson to earn Neil Critchley's side a draw in a match where there wasn't much to separate the Edinburgh rivals.
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However, towards the end of the match Hearts player James Penrice was preparing to take a throw in near the Hibs fans when he appeared to be struck by an item, forcing him to jolt forwards.
The item was then passed on to the referee who ran over to the technical area to give it to an official. As the Scottish Sun reports, pictures on TV showed what appeared to resemble a vape on the pitch.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Neil Lennon emphasised how damaging events like these are to the Scottish game. He said: "It spoils the whole thing for me. Players should be safe in that environment.
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"As should coaches. One, it's a cowardly thing do to. Two, it's dangerous. And three, it's illegal. It just gives our game such a bad look when everyone else in the game is trying to promote the image of the game."
Former Hearts defender Ryan McGowan echoed the thoughts of his co pundit, adding: "I think that the most disappointing fact is that all of Hearts fans and Hibs fans will disagree. It's just one idiot that's done it.
"It just reflects so badly on the whole fan group. It's happened at Tynecastle and it happened at Easter Road.
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"It's just really disappointing that it's just one idiot that's thrown that, hit Penrice and we end up speaking about it after the game when we should be speaking about Wilson scoring his first derby goal."
Both Hibs and Hearts are yet to release a statement regarding the incident on Sunday.