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Daily Record
Sport
Liam Bryce

Chris Sutton and Michael Stewart's fiery Hearts clash in full as pundits go head to head over 'red card' incident

Premier Sport pundits went head to head over a potential red card flashpoint during Hearts' win over Inverness Caley Thistle.

The Jambos triumphed 1-0 in the entertaining Betfred Cup tie at Tynecastle - a first fixture for the club in seven months.

Jamie Walker's controversial penalty provided plenty of debate post-match as the new handball rule once again went under the spotlight.

But it was an incident involving Hearts ' Craig Wighton, where the striker appeared to flick a stray boot towards the head of Daniel Mackay.

Pundits Chris Sutton and Stephen Craigan strongly disagreed with Michael Stewart regarding what should've been Wighton's fate.

The former pair were adamant a red card should've been shown but their counterpart wasn't having it for a second.

And it made for some live TV fireworks on Gorgie.

You can read the full, fiery exchange below.

Hearts flashpoint clash in full

Sutton: "Yes, he should've gone. Michael thinks it's OK, only in Scotland. You can't do that anywhere else in the world.

"He's missed the ball by 12 inches at least."

Stewart: (Laughing) "You're moving it from two foot to one foot."

Sutton: "This isn't a laughing matter, he's had a swipe at him. If you miss the ball by that much you should be sent off anyway."

Stewart: "It's not a red card offence to miss the ball, is it? Do the two of you think he deliberately kicked him in the face?"

Sutton: "He's endangering an opponent, Michael."

Stewart: "I'm just asking you, do you think he deliberately kicked him in the face?"

Craigan: "Do you think he's going for the ball when the ball's on the ground?"

Stewart: "Yes."

Craigan: "The ball's on the ground and his face is not on the ground. He either kicked the ball or he's kicked him in the face."

Stewart: "He's deliberately kicked him in the face?"

Sutton: "You can have as baffled a face as you want, he's endangered an opponent.

"It doesn't matter whether it's accidental Michael, it doesn't matter."

Stewart: "You think there was excessive force there?"

Sustton: "He's endangering an opponent. You're saying it's OK to kick someone in the head?"

Stewart: "No, I'm not. I'm saying it's not excessive force."

Sutton: "(Did he mean it?) It doesn't matter. It's endangering an opponent, you can't do that."

Stewart: "You're sitting on the fence."

Sutton: "It's endangering an opponent, you can't do that."

Stewart: "But was it deliberate?"

Sutton: "It doesn't matter!"

Craigan: "I don't think he makes any attempt for the ball. What's he swinging his foot at? The ball's on the ground."

Stewart: "He's trying to kick the ball, he's stretching and the ball's rolled away from him.

"It's clumsy, it's accidental and it's not excessive force."

Sutton: "It tells us a lot about Michael. It tells us it should've been a red card. You can't do that, come on."

Stewart: "That tells you nothing about me!"

Sutton: "Well, Michael doesn't know a lot if he thinks that. You can't kick someone on the head and expect to stay on the pitch. simple as that."

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