'Careless' - Keith Hackett: Steven McLean got Motherwell vs Hearts incident horribly wrong

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(Credit: Imago) Sun 10 May 2026 9:15, UK Hearts should have been awarded a crucial penalty in their 1-1 draw with Motherwell in the Scottish Premiership on Saturday night. That is according to ex-FIFA referee and former PGMOL chief Keith Hackett, who has exclusively told Football Insider that referee Steven McLean was wrong not to punish a “careless” challenge from Tawanda Maswanhise inside the box.

VAR official Greg Aitken called McLean over to the pitchside monitor after a brief review, but the man in the middle still upheld his initial decision that the challenge wasn’t enough to warrant a penalty. “Maswanhise is not making an attempt to play the ball and catches his opponent; it was a careless challenge, and the VAR was correct to bring the referee to the monitor,” the former official exclusively told Football Insider.“McLean then makes the wrong call by not awarding a penalty to Hearts.

It should have resulted in a penalty. “This was a huge decision that could have an impact on who wins the league title.”Michael Stewart weighs in on Hearts’ penalty shoutHearts’ draw with Motherwell has left the door open for Celtic to cut the gap down to just one point at the top of the table, but the penalty decision has caused plenty of controversy in the aftermath of the game.A good many people feared VAR/officiating would have a huge part to play in the title race.