Hughes up in arms at Barr red

It would be no exaggeration to say the meanest New York street gang, in Central Park at midnight, would have hesitated in asking him to part company with his wallet. You see, Big Bad John, or Yogi to his friends, was never a massive fan of taking prisoners as he went about his ball-winning duties as a central defender. His terrifying reputation went before him, but Hughes was one of those 100 per cent dedicated professionals who knew his limitations and never drew a bad word from a rival. Bones shook when he challenged, but there was no nasty side to this guy. Solid more than spectacular; Franz Beckenbauer he wasn’t.

So, when one of the game’s renowned so-called hardmen goes into a apoplectic state after what he clearly believes to be a miscarriage of justice you have got to believe he is telling it like it is. It would take something out of the ordinary for Hughes to head for orbit.

Andrius Velicka, the Heart of Midlothian forward, managed to send Hughes in that general direction at Tynecastle on Saturday. Shirt buttons came close to thudding around Scotland’s capital city as Hughes took a deep breath when he was asked about the sending-off of Darren Barr, the Falkirk centre-back, after a spat with the Lithuanian.

Without hesitation, Hughes said: “The referee got conned and that’s not football. Darren Barr tells me he never touched the player and I believe him. Steve Conroy had a fantastic game and is one of the best match officials in Scotland, but he was totally conned at the sending-off decision.”

The Barr-Velicka bust-up came with the game ticking down to the final whistle with Hearts ahead through a 73rd-minute close-range effort from Roman Bednar after superb work on the right by the impressive Andrew Driver. Velicka caught the Falkirk defender with a late challenge and Barr leapt to his feat and confronted the 6ft-plus forward. The Lithuanian collapsed in a heap and the referee told Hughes afterwards he had produced a straight red card for a head-butt on the Hearts player.

Falkirk will appeal the appalling decision and, if they need it, television evidence will clearly show there was no contact.

Jack Ross, the Falkirk captain, said: “The ordering-off was wrong, it’s as simple as that. Listen, I train every day with Darren and I can tell you it is not in his nature to be aggressive. Far from it.

“I was substituted at the time, but, from what I could witness from the bench, I didn’t think he did much wrong. The guys on the park all insisted there was no contact. Actually, it was a very clumsy challenge from Velicka in the first place. I just think Darren was conned into a reaction.

“Maybe he can learn from this in the future and just walk away from these sort of incidents. You don’t want to put yourself in these positions. It was a pity Darren’s afternoon ended in such a manner because I thought he had performed magnificently. He could even have scored in the first half with a little bit of luck when he hit the upright.

“As far as the game was concerned, I thought we more than matched Hearts and it was a disappointing goal to lose. We were caught up the park when they broke away. To be fair, the youngster Driver whipped in a good cross at exactly the right pace and it only needed a touch. Unfortunately for us, that’s precisely what Bednar managed and that won them the match.”

Bednar agreed with Ross and added: “It was a very difficult game from start to finish. Of course, I was happy to score, but I know I have a long way to go to get properly matchfit. At the moment, though, the most important thing was to get all three points and we achieved that objective.

“I didn’t see too much of the sending-off incident. Actually, myself and the Falkirk goalkeeper, Kasper Schmeichel, were the peacemakers. We tried to calm everyone down and take the heat out of the moment.”

Tynecastle has hosted more classical confrontations than this offering and both sets of players had to battle the elements in their efforts to produce some sort of spectacle.

Paul Hartley put in his usual industrious shift and might have opened the scoring with a searing effort that was well saved by the young Schmeichel, the son of Peter.

Saulius Mikoliunas smashed a strike against the crossbar and, shortly after that, Hartley set up Velicka, but his scrappy attempt squeezed against the post when it looked easier to convert.

Heart of Midlothian (4-4-2): S Banks 7 — T Fyssas 7, C Berra 7, M Zaliukas 6 (sub: I Tall, 60min 6), C Karipidis 7 — S Mikoliunas 6 (sub: A Driver, 67 7), N McCann 6, P Hartley 8, B Aguiar 7 — J Mole 6 (sub: R Bednar, 52 7) A Velicka 6. Substitutes not used: E Kurkas, L Wallace, M Pospisal, J Brellier. Booked: Karipidis, Velicka.

Falkirk (5-4-1): K Schmeichel 7 — J Ross 7 (sub: J Stewart, 80), D Barr 7, C Uras 7 (sub: T McManus, 80), K Dodd 6 (sub: D Holden, 33 7), T Scobbie 7 — P Cregg 6, V Lima 6, R Latapy 7, L Craig 7 — A Gow 6. Substitutes not used: J Lambers, S Thomson, D Robertson, R McStay. Booked: Holden. Sent off: Barr.

Taken from timesonline.co.uk