Tony Docherty admitted he was baffled by the award of a pivotal penalty against Dundee as they lost 3-2 to Hearts at Dens Park.

The home side had opened the scoring in the first half through Jordan McGhee before the Jam Tarts equalised after the break with an Alan Forrest goal.

The Dark Blues took the lead once more with a stunning strike from Lyall Cameron before Hearts were awarded a penalty.

Referee Graham Grainger ruled that Lee Ashcroft had handled a Lawrence Shankland shot with the striker converting the spot-kick before scoring what proved to be a late winner.

However, Dundee boss Docherty questioned the penalty decision and why the official did not have another look at the incident on the pitchside monitor.

Docherty said: “I would love to come in after a game and talk about my team and how good they’ve been.

“But it seems to be the last five weeks all you do is talk about decisions.

“I just spoke to big Ash there, who is the most honest boy you could meet. What are you meant to do there?

“Are you meant to cut off a body part? What are you meant to do when you are a yard away from the player and it hits you.

“It was such a pivotal point in the game. We had gone from 1-1 to score a wonderful goal to go 2-1 up and I thought we were comfortable.

“Hearts are a really good side with a top striker in Lawrence Shankland. I thought we were handling it well but it was just that moment in the game that changed everything.

“Why doesn’t he go and check it? I don’t understand. He’s told me: ‘Had I seen it again…’ Why did you not go and see it again?

“We have invested as an industry and a football club in a piece of apparatus there that you can go and check.

“Yet you don’t do that. It is just galling for me.”

Shankland had been the subject of intense transfer speculation during the window with Jambos boss Steven Naismith admitting the Scotland front man showed exactly why he is such a key player for Hearts.

The manager said: “He is a top striker. He is somebody who we know is really important and that’s why we wanted to tie him down to a longer contract, that’s why we want him to be here as long as possible.

“A big bit of pressure on his penalty but again he shows his quality.”

Aberdeen boss Barry Robson remained in bullish mood after a 1-1 cinch Premiership draw with Dundee saw the pressure on his position ramped up further.

Chants of “We want Robson out” were among the cleaner of those heard around Pittodrie at the end of another disappointing performance, though the clouds briefly cleared after Bojan Miovski converted a first-half spot-kick.

Ester Sokler saw a second goal ruled out five minutes after the interval but from consecutive corners, Lee Ashcroft was first denied by Kelle Roos before then turning home from a second delivery.

The result leaves Aberdeen in eighth place, while Dundee move ahead of Hibs into sixth.

And Robson said: “I thought we looked a bit leggy in the game – it’s the fourth game in 10 days.

“As well as the penalty, if Graeme [Shinnie] had scored then I think we’d have been in a great position to be 2-0 up, and Jamie McGrath misses a great chance to score early in the second half.

“I don’t think we were really good, but I thought we were alright and had enough in the game to win it.

“The fans were applauding when I came and some of them will sing these kind of songs, which is OK. I accept that and I signed up for the job.

“All I can focus on is coming in tomorrow and try to make us better and try to win the next game”.

Dundee boss Tony Docherty, the former Aberdeen assistant manager, admitted his greed after saying he was disappointed to only take a point from the match.

With eight men out for the game, his squad was boosted by the return of defender Owen Beck on loan from Liverpool until the end of the season after a successful first half of the campaign and the youngster could have netted an injury-time winner.

Docherty said: “We’re back into the top six which is progress for us, I can’t credit the players any more.

“There’s a real good spirit and mentality. There’s a toughness that makes me proud as a manager.

“It’s important that we put in a good 45-minute performance tonight, but I’m looking for more. We need to make Dens Park a real difficult arena for anyone to visit.

“To go into that fixture tonight with eight men out and come away disappointed we’ve not won is testament to the players and shows where we are at the moment.”

Lee Ashcroft’s back-post header earned Dundee a point to move them into the cinch Premiership top six in a Pittodrie draw that will do nothing to ease the pressure on Aberdeen boss Barry Robson.

The Dons’ hopes of matching last term’s third-place finish have been all but extinguished before January is out, with their form being patchy at best.

And while Bojan Miovski’s first-half penalty provided some brief hope of an improvement, Aberdeen ultimately served up the kind of insipid performance that has some sections of the Dons support calling for the manager’s head.

The crowd’s nerves would not have been helped by an early Dundee attack that saw Zach Robinson’s low cross only narrowly missed by the sliding Amadou Bakayoko.

A Kelle Roos clearance would later come off the on-loan Forest Green Rovers man but, fortunately for the Aberdeen keeper, spun away to safety.

Aberdeen had chances of their own in between, Miovski seizing on a short pass from returning Dundee loanee Owen Beck only for Trevor Carson to save well.

Captain Graeme Shinnie should have done better when he latched onto a long ball over the top but, in trying to lift over Carson, put the ball well wide of target with just the keeper to beat.

Miovski gave his side the lead from the spot, stroking into the bottom right corner after former Don Joe Shaughnessy had taken Ester Sokler’s standing leg in attempting to clear a Jack Milne cross.

Another Milne cross saw Sokler this time head into the arms of Carson before the half ended with a late VAR check on Leighton Clarkson’s foul on Lyall Cameron, with no further action taken.

A smart near-post finish by Sokler seemed to have put the Dons 2-0 up five minutes after the interval only to be denied by the offside flag, and that lifted Dundee.

Roos saved Ashcroft’s back-post header from a left-wing corner but after Beck trudged across the park to take from the other flank, his delivery found the same man who this time turned home to level the scores.

From there the match descended into a bore draw; neither keeper was threatened and the main route forward was the long ball, a tactic that has long fed into the criticism of Robson.

With matches against both halves of the Old Firm up next, he will fear the chants of “sacked in the morning” doing the rounds at Pittodrie – as Cameron flashed a late Dundee chance wide – may not be far off the mark.

Lee Ashcroft has become the latest promotion-winning player to pledge his future to Dundee after agreeing a two-year deal.

The 29-year-old defender’s contract was due to expire this summer but he has extended his stay until 2025, which means he will remain at Dens Park as newly appointed manager Tony Docherty leads the Dark Blues back into the cinch Premiership next term following their recent Championship title success.

“I have loved my three years at the club so far and am looking forward to hopefully a successful season in the top division after winning the league last year,” Ashcroft told the Dundee website.

The centre-back, who joined from Dunfermline in 2020, follows goalkeeper Adam Legzdins, long-serving full-back Cammy Kerr and homegrown midfielder Lyall Cameron in agreeing to stay since promotion was secured early last month.

The Dark Blues announced earlier this week that Alex Jakubiak, Jordan Marshall, Paul McMullan, Luke Strachan and Cillian Sheridan have not been offered new contracts.