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Police investigate after Hearts player is hit with a lighter at Dundee United match
@Source: scotsman.com
Police Scotland are investigating Sunday’s Scottish Premiership match between Hearts and Dundee United at Tannadice after one of the visiting players was struck by a lighter. The object was thrown from the George Fox Stand near the end of the match, which Hearts won 3-2 thanks to a stoppage-time header by defender Stuart Findlay. The lighter was thrown at a group of Tynecastle players as they celebrated the goal, with video footage showing Findlay picking it up and using it to taunt the home fans. He was then shown a yellow card by referee David Dickinson. No injury occurred as a result of the incident but police are keen to find the culprit and have appealed to anyone who witnessed the incident to get in touch. Constable Matthew Boath said: “This was an unacceptable and reckless act that could have resulted in injury. Our enquiries are ongoing into this incident, and I am asking anyone who was at the game or who saw what happened to get in touch with us.” Anyone with information should contact Police Scotland on 101, quoting CR/0334326/25. Lawrence Shankland’s penalty put Hearts ahead in the game, but United overhauled the deficit to lead 2-1 at the interval thanks to two Ivan Dolcek strikes. Findlay headed the equaliser and then the winner in the 94th minute to complete a dramatic comeback. “I couldn't get him to a score a goal in Kilmarnock, now he can’t stop scoring,” smiled the Hearts head coach Derek McInnes, who managed the player at Rugby Park. “Stuart's a brilliant human, he's a brilliant boy. I knew first and foremost he's going to do his job well defensively. I think he does that week in, week out. “It's actually nice to see him getting a wee bit of a chance to shine and getting a wee bit of applause from that side of it. You see the supporters, they're choking for heroes, they're desperate to chant their name and to have that adulation. “Stuart's job is to try and stop the other team's better players and he does that time and time again, but it's great for him to score goals. I like the fact we're building a wee bit of a reputation on set-plays, because he was involved in this penalty kick as well. “In saying that, I'd still like us to score more from open play, and that's something we need to look at as well. Coming from behind, you need people to stand up and Stuart normally does that and it's great for him to be involved in all three goals.” An injury to one of Hearts’ new signings, Norwegian right-back Christian Borchgrevink, rules him out for several weeks. He did not make the trip to Tannadice and McInnes is now considering recalling Adam Forrester from a loan at St Johnstone. Since the clubs signed a co-operation agreement for this season, players aged 16-21 who are eligible for Scottish national teams can move freely between them. “We'll deal with that tomorrow. I think we just need to take a breath,” said McInnes on Borchgrevink. “We got the news yesterday, but he could be out for six to eight weeks, effectively, which was bizarre for me how its came about. He trained fine on Thursday. No kind of real issues, reported about a tightness on Friday, we got him scanned just to make sure. “With Adam going to St. Johnstone on that co-operation loan, he never get registered in time. I think it was a St. Johnstone issue because obviously he never got involved on Friday night [at Ross County]. We need to take a breath on that tomorrow. “We'll sit down in the football department and we'll just see what's the best way forward because without Borchgrevink, we didn't really have that natural right-back or wing-back effectively today. It didn't cost us today, but we'll speak about that tomorrow and try and make the right decision.” READ MORE: Hearts hit a 66-year record
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