James Wilson will learn from Hearts red card as Neil Critchley delivers verdict (2025)

The teenage star saw red as the Jambos were beaten 1-0 by Dundee United at Tynecastle on Sunday

Neil Critchley admits schoolboy striker James Wilson suffered a harsh lesson after receiving his first red card of his Hearts career.

The 18-year-old got his marching orders during the defeat to Dundee United after throwing himself into a reckless challenge on Luca Stephenson.

His boss felt the kid had been hard done by on first viewing but having watched it back conceded ref Nick Walsh called it right. It proved to be a costly mistake for the hosts after a positive start.

United took full advantage of their numerical superiority to clinch victory with Sam Dalby’s 14th goal of the season - leaving the Gorgie men to sweat on their top six place ahead of next week’s final pre-split clash at Motherwell.

But Critchley expects his young frontman to learn from his mad moment. He said: “At the time I thought it was a real genuine attempt to play the ball and got something on it. I thought it was very harsh at the time.

“Having seen it back, you’re talking about a fraction, an absolute fraction, being mistimed. He's followed through slightly high.

“When you go to ground and you slide, there's always going to be a natural coming together. But the referee is right on top of it. In this day and age, if you mistime a tackle, then you give the referee a decision to make. Unfortunately, that decision went against us.

“He will learn from that. That's the process or development you have to go through when you're playing young players. Today we had to suffer with 10 men, but I thought we did that very well.”

Hearts could have nailed down their top six place with a win. But they now have to go to Fir Park and win if they are to hold off both Michael Wimmer's Well and fellow chasers St Mirren.

Critchley added: “It’s a great game, isn't it? It's exciting. The positive thing is it's in our favour.

“We're not relying on other results. We know if we go there and win, then it's job done. It's still in our hands and we have to use that as a positive.

“If we play like we did today, with a little bit of better quality, then that'll give us a good chance.

“I thought up until the sending off we were by far the better team. I thought we played with real purpose. There's an expectation on us to win today and get the job done.

“We didn't play with any nerves, any anxiety or anything like that. We were really good.

“The only thing missing was the final bit. If we were shooting, we shot straight at the goalkeeper or we missed the target.

“If we'd been a little bit better in the final third, I think no-one could have argued that we'd have been two up. But the red card has a huge bearing on the outcome of the game.

“I feel for the players because I actually felt we deserved something from the game.”

Even if Hearts make the top six, their chances of qualifying for Europe through league position look slim having fallen eight points behind Dundee United.

But Critchley, whose team could book a Europa League slot by lifting the Scottish Cup, is refusing to give up on his Premiership ambitions.

“No, I wouldn't say it's beyond us yet,” he stressed.

“It's obviously harder, but if we can get into the top six and then we've got to play those teams, then we can take points off them. But our first priority is to go to Motherwell and win next week.”