Robbie Neilson slammed referee Don Robertson for not sending off Shaun Byrne in the first minute of Hearts’ 3-1 defeat to Dundee.
The Championship leaders lost just their second league game of the season after goals from Jordan McGhee, Danny Mullen and Jonathan Afolabi from the penalty spot.
Andy Irving got Hearts back into the game at 2-1 but they couldn’t find an equaliser before the hosts made sure.
However, Neilson was adamant that the outcome would have been different had Robertson sent Byrne off for a reckless challenge on Steven Naismith inside 60 seconds.
The Dundee midfielder went flying in on The Jambos’ skipper with the ball well gone and Neilson believes he would have seen red had it not been so early in the game.
He was also puzzled as to why Robertson penalised Christophe Berra late on for an apparent shirt tug in the box, pointedly remarking that both of his team’s defeats this campaign have come with Ribertson as ref.
“We didn’t start the game anywhere near well enough,” Neilson admitted. “Dundee to their credit started very well and scored their goals.
“But I thought second half we played very well, controlled the game and on the balance of chances created, we probably should have at least got a point if not won the game. We had a number of one v ones.
“But again the game has turned on, in my opinion, a very poor refereeing decision from Don Robertson.
“That’s us lost two games this season and they’re two games that have been refereed by Don.
“I thought tonight there was a big call in the first minute and for me it’s a red card. It’s reckless and he didn’t give it because it’s at the start of the game.
“If it’s given like it should be, it’s a different game.
“And the penalty, we’ve seen it and I can’t the penalty. I can’t see it.
“The biggest disappointment for me is we didn’t start the game well but then we get a referee again that’s just not giving the right calls at the right time.”
While a bad night, Neilson was keen to stress it was just a second league defeat of the season with Hearts still in a commanding position at the top of the league.
“It’s not going to rattle us,” he insisted. “We went to Dunfermline and got beat there.
“When you play at Hearts, you want to win every game but it’s not going to happen like that every time.
“The second half performance was very good and showed the quality we’ve got.
“We had a number of senior players out today as well in Ginnelly, Smith and Boyce who’ll all come back into the team and make us a lot stronger.
“Winning leagues is about how you recover from knocks. Tonight’s a knock and after the last knock two months ago, we recovered extremely well.
“We just need to do it again.”
