Hearts head coach Robbie Neilson insists his side are due a rub of the green after claiming they have been let down by some poor refereeing decisions.

Neilson telephoned SFA Head of Referees John Fleming after both the recent clashes with Rangers and Celtic to express his disappointment about how Craig Thomson and Willie Collum handled those respective matches.

The former Hearts captain was left frustrated again at the weekend when Craig Charleston awarded a penalty to Queen of the South during the 4-1 win even though Jamie Walker's challenge appeared to take place outside the box.

But Neilson, whose team head to Cowdenbeath on Saturday and will bid to protect their nine point lead at the Championship summit, hopes he will not be talking about referees' performances in the future.

He said: "That's three in the last three games where there's been decisions that have been very disappointing and that one on Saturday could have cost us the three points, but we showed spirit to get back into it again, and ultimately it was not as important in the game.

"It is frustrating but people always talk about it evening out over the course of the season, so we're due a few dodgy ones going for us now."

Hearts will aim to rack up a fifth successive league win in Fife this weekend and Neilson admits he purposely took his players to Cowdenbeath during pre-season to prepare them for Saturday's clash at the dilapidated Central Park.

Neilson, who spent time on loan with the Blue Brazil during the early part of his career, added: "It's a very difficult venue to go to and that's the reason I took the whole squad there for a game during pre-season, to get them used to what it's like and understand.

"You can talk all you want about it being this and that, it's a very difficult place to go, especially in the middle of December."

Speaking to Hearts TV, he added: "We've talked about it already in the dressing room and we must focus on that. We will probably play a slightly different style of football but it's about getting three points and we need to make sure we prepare properly for it."