Jorge Grant apologised to his Hearts teammates for the red card that effectively cost them points at Pittodrie.
Interim boss Liam Fox admitted the midfielder held up his hands after the game as the Jambos lost a five goal thriller at Aberdeen with two minutes to go. Fox was disappointed with Grant’s card – he received a second yellow for chopping down Duk after being booked for dissent – and the fact that punishment was doubled with Ante Palaversa’s late heartbreaker to keep the Dons 100 per cent start to the season in tact.
Fox said: “First and foremost, Jorge Grant’s put his hands up and he feels he’s let the team down. There’s no doubt that sending off changes the flow of the game, it changes the momentum. That’s football. We work in a world of really, really small margins and I just thought those couple of things went against us today.”
Fox knew the game changed on the red card but had sympathy for Grant for his first booking, as he was cautioned for arguing the ball was still moving at the free kick which led to Aberdeen’s second goal. The Hearts boss added: “The red card definitely changes the flow of the game.
“The other thing that’s worth mentioning is that the second goal, the ball’s actually still moving from a free kick. They go up the park and score.
“Jorge Grant is then booked for dissent because he’s complaining about the ball moving and then he gets sent off on a challenge. So, yes, there’s frustration there, there’s disappointment.”
Fox reckons his team, who sit bottom of the table, more than merited a point on the back of their gruelling trip back from Azerbaijan. They battled back to go 2-1 up and had other big chances. He stated: “I feel disappointed, I feel frustrated.
“I thought for large spells of the game the players were really, really good. Even more so off the back of what’s been a really, really difficult, challenging week. Not only with Steven [Naismith] and his staff leaving, but the travel that we’ve had.
“I’m actually really disappointed for the players to be honest because I thought we were good for at least a point. The number of chances we created, the way we moved the ball, how we were without the ball with our energy. Overriding feeling is just a huge disappointment for the players.”