Robbie Neilson hit out at referee Kevin Clancy after Hearts ended their day at Parkhead with just nine men.
The Tynecastle manager was annoyed after Alex Cochrane and Toby Sibbick were both handed red cards in the final seconds of their 2-0 defeat. Both defenders were sent packing for second bookings and Neilson was disappointed at the officiating as his troops bravely went down to the champions.
The Gorgie gaffer felt his team had received a raw deal in Glasgow’s East End, but accepted the situation can swing on his own patch. Neilson said: “When you come here, you need strong referees and if you don’t get that it can lead to difficult times. We made 11 fouls, had two red cards and five bookings. Celtic made 12 fouls and got nothing.
“So that is the difficulty when you come here to Glasgow. You need that strength and I don’t think we had it. We need decisions to go our way as well because there are times when they don’t when you come here. That’s only natural.
“The crowd noise and the pressure, you don’t get these big decisions. We just need to deal with it. It works for us at Tynecastle. When we come through here, sometimes it doesn’t work.”
Neilson made wholesale changes to his line-up for the contest in Glasgow ahead of Thursday night’s crucial Europa League play-off second leg against FZ Zurich. Skipper Craig Gordon wasn’t risked and his stand-in Ross Stewart performed superbly with, in particular, a couple of top-class saves to deny Matt O’Riley and Giorgios Giakoumakis in the second period.
Neilson said: “Excellent, I thought he [Stewart] did really well. I thought all the guys who came in did.”
Lawrence Shankland and Barrie McKay were amongst the subs who appeared in the second period. Key defender Craig Halkett is rated unlikely to make the second leg where Hearts are looking to overturn a 2-1 first-leg and progress.
Neilson said: “We’ve got good quality in this squad and guys can come in. The boys are disappointed because we wanted to win the game. We aren’t here expecting to get beat and I think we showed in periods that we can win.
“We still need to build. We started to get more control of the game in the second half. We got into good areas and were more aggressive in our press.
“We kept our shape in the first half, but weren’t really aggressive at all and were far better in the second half. We had a number of niggles here and there and had an eye on Thursday night. They all came in and looked great.
“Connor Smith and Lewis Neilson are young kids and did exceptionally well coming to a place like this and performing. Look, I’m pleased with the performance, disappointed with the way the result came, but all eyes for us is now on Thursday night.
“Overall, I thought it was a good performance, but not the result we wanted. Celtic are a very good team, you’ve got to give them credit. They control a lot of the game, but we matched them for long periods.”
