Hearts' Robbie Neilson hits out at referee Willie Collum
Sunday 30 August 2015 11:50, UK
Hearts boss Robbie Neilson hit out at referee Willie Collum after Calum Paterson's red card proved to be a turning point in their 3-2 defeat at Hamilton.
Scotland squad member Paterson had given the Tynecastle side a lead for the first time with 19 minutes left after the hosts had led at the break through Gramoz Kurtaj.
But he was dismissed just six minutes later when he made a two-footed tackle on home player Darian MacKinnon and Hamilton scored two late goals to end their opponents' 100 per cent record.
Neilson purposely had his players training in a team of 10 in the build-up to the game because of the number of Hearts players who have been sent off by Collum in previous matches.
And he was irate with the decision which led to his side finding itself in that very situation for the closing stages at New Douglas Park.
Neilson said: "I don't think it is a sending-off. I've seen it already. For me it is not a red, but the referee makes the decision. It is a total game-changer.
"We end up trying to hang on for a draw and we don't make it. I could say a lot of things about him but I don't want to say too much because I'll end up in the stand and I don't want to do that.
"We looked at the stats during the week. When we get a referee, we look at what the stats are and what way they referee the game.
"This game, with the officials we were getting, we knew there was a high probability of a man being sent off and it's happened again.
"We tried to train with 10 men but we didn't get our game-plan going because of when it happened and who came off. It made it difficult for us."
Neilson insists his jilted players will only respond in a positive manner because of the injustice they feel.
He added: "I can take positives from the reaction in the dressing room afterwards. The boys are hungry now. We know what we need to do. We know we need to work hard.
"We need to overcome things like this. We need to work doubly hard in training. Sometimes you need people to kick you in the teeth. You need to come back and fight again."
