Hearts manager Paulo Sergio has bemoaned the refereeing decisions that have gone against his side recently.

The Edinburgh side crashed to a 4-0 defeat against Celtic on Wednesday night with the Glasgow club’s opening goal coming immediately after Hearts thought they should have been awarded a goal.

Stephen Elliott’s header appeared to have crossed the line before being blocked by Joe Ledley but neither referee Willie Collum nor assistant Andy Tait awarded a goal. Seconds later Scott Brown put Celtic in front and further goals from Joe Ledley, Victor Wanyama and Gary Hooper sealed three points for the visitors.

"I am very disappointed with the result,” Sergio said. "What do you want me to say?

"We have been very unlucky with some decisions in the last three games and the referee didn't see it tonight.

"At Inverness we should have had a penalty. Everyone saw it on television but no one on the pitch.

"We should have had a clear penalty in the cup game against St Johnstone.

"Nobody saw it again and tonight a goal.

"If you don't see the ball over the line then you should see the handball which is a penalty and a red card. So we were very unlucky."

Celtic manager Neil Lennon conceded that the decision looked to have been incorrect and admitted that the match could have unfolded differently had a goal been given.

"I think we copped a break," he said.

"Judging by the cameras it looks like it is over the line and the only disappointing thing was we didn't deal with the initial header from the corner.

"Psychologically it might have given Hearts a lift. The ironic thing is we go down the other end and score the goal.

"But the reaction I got for the rest of the game was magnificent."