I’ll take rival fans’ fat jibes on the chins says Hearts star Lawrence Shankland

LAWRENCE SHANKLAND has joked he’s happy to take rival fans fat jibes on the CHINS.

The Hearts striker is regularly taunted by opposition supporters over his stocky build.

But last season’s Player of the Year laughs off the stick and insists it doesn’t bother him.

The 29-year-old enjoyed a running battle with ex-club Aberdeen punters on Sunday.

Having seen him booked early on they called for John Beaton to show a second yellow.

The red-hot Dons eventually went on to win the heated encounter 3-2 to leave the Jambos rock bottom.

But Shankland insists such abuse is part and parcel of playing at the top level.

He said: “I get that every week.

“If I had a hundred quid for every chorus of ‘You Fat B*******’ then I wouldn’t be playing football any more.

“It’s part of football. I dish it out so you need to take it on the chin – or in this case, chins.”

He added: “They are competitive games [with Aberdeen]. 

“Not right now, but usually the two teams are going for third place and that can create a wee rivalry. 

“You need to get involved in that. Of course, you receive a bit of stick on the back of it but that’s part of football.”

Shankland was more annoyed with Beaton’s decision to let Nicky Devlin’s equaliser stand.

Hearts had just taken a 2-1 lead in the north east, raising hopes they’d chalk up a first league win of the season.

But Graeme Shinnie’s quickly taken free kick made it’s way to Devlin, who immediately levelled.

Shankland and Jorge Grant were incensed, claiming the ball was still moving when Shinnie played it.

Grant was booked for arguing and was then sent off moments later for a challenge on Duk.

Skipper Shankland, meanwhile, was already on a booking so was wary of saying too much.

But he was left far from satisfied even though Beaton claimed VAR had checked the goal.

He said: “I repeated to the referee that the ball was moving when he played it and it led to a goal.

“Then it’s the job of VAR to check those things. 

“I asked: ‘Could we check it?’

“I got: ‘Why are you still talking to me? Why are you still talking to me?’ he repeated. 

“Jorge has received a booking at that point. I asked again: ‘Could it be checked?’ ‘Aye, it’s already been checked.’ 

“And that was it. So I don’t know the rules of football, currently.

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“The booking Jorge gets for pointing out that the ball is moving – and we have seen it moving – leads to him being sent off. 

“Obviously he is on a booking and he makes a silly tackle, but he forgets he’s on the booking to be honest. 

“That came from a decision which was, in my head, wrong. 

“I’m all for letting the game flow but 99.9 per cent of the time, if the ball is moving, the referee will stop the game and restart it.

“I just had to agree because I was on a booking and I couldn’t say much more.”

The result means Hearts are still stuck at the foot of the table with two points from eight games.

But Shankland insists there is a lot they can take from the way they battled at Pittodrie, especially off the back of a draining Euro win over Dinamo Minsk in Azerbaijan.

He said: “The be-all-and-end-all is the result and we lost. The performance and desire, off the back of Thursday, was good.

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“It’s always difficult but we didn’t let it affect us at all. We were ready for the game and played well throughout. 

“We are level at half-time and towards the end of the first half we were dictating the game. 

“The second half was even but you are away from home and you need to ride things out at times. 

“We lost a second goal, lost a man and then lost a third which has killed us. It’s disappointing.

“Aberdeen are joint-top of the league so we knew it would be difficult. 

“We are going through a tough period domestically but I don’t think we looked like a team going through a tough time. I thought we looked really good at times. 

“Aberdeen caused us some problems, that was always going to be the case. 

“Overall, as an away performance at Pittodrie, I’d imagine it’s one of the tougher games they have had.”

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