Hearts boss Paulo Sergio was utterly fuming but philosophical after tonight's humiliating 4-0 defeat to league leaders Celtic at Tynecastle.

The Jambos looked to have taken a second minute lead when Stephen Elliott knocked in Andy Webster's header but astonishingly the clear goal was not spotted by any of the four officials involved. With the home side protesting desperately, the clinical Hoops took advantage, running up the pitch to take the lead through captain Scott Brown.

When questioned about the decision, a furious Paulo retorted: "What do you want me to say? I'm just going to say we have been very unlucky in the last three games. The referee hasn't seen the goal today. We didn't get a penalty in Inverness or on Sunday. At the moment, we have no luck it seems. I don't want to take any credit off Celtic's win. They are a strong team. I have to remember we had a strong start, our strategy worked, we scored, and Celtic got lucky because only the referee hasn't seen a goal."

"My players lost focus and concentration and Celtic scored. We tried to get back into the game and Celtic scored again, Samaras took a bad touch but it worked. We push harder and another counter attack goal. Then it's 3-0 and the game is over. Celtic are a strong team. We tried to change but the heads went down. That should not happen. After the first ten minutes of the second half I decided to rest some players and give others more minutes to keep them sharp, because it was too easy for Celtic."

Paulo confirmed that he could not see the ball go over the line from his dugout vantage point, but he did see a handball, which should have been irrelevant because of the goal. Paulo said: "I've seen the pictures so I know it was a goal, but I could only see the ball bounce and my players celebrate. I saw a handball, a penalty, but nothing happened."

" However this isn't important, we could have scored and lost 6-1. It wasn't 4-1, it was 4-0. I can't say we would win if the goal was allowed but you have to agree the game is different and harder for Celtic if they are behind. My goalie made only one save but they scored four, that is how a big team plays. I have to say, for everybody, this defeat is my responsibility."

Today on HeartsTV - post-match reaction from Paulo Sergio and XXXX.