Robbie Neilson insisted Hearts were robbed of a penalty after a red card decision all but ended his side's Europa League hopes. The Jambos boss believes Jorge Grant's second half dismissal for an alleged dive under a challenge from FC Zurich's Karol Mets was the wrong call and swung the play-off second-leg tie in the Swiss side's favour.
Neilson was full of praise for his side's dominant display as they went down to a late Fabian Rohner strike to lose 3-1 on aggregate and drop into the Conference League He said: "When I speak to our players I say to them, when you’re in the penalty area, you can’t come off your feet.
"If you do, you have to make contact with the ball. He comes off his feet. The striker, in my opinion, is under no obligation to get out of the way. So as soon as there’s contact, it should be a penalty. But the referee has seen it a different way. And it cost us the tie."
