The blatant contempt Celtic are held in by jealous rivals will rob a man of his rightful prize – Hotline on fire

Hearts have come out swinging at officials over their Scottish Cup semi final defeat to Aberdeen.

Tynecastle chiefs want answers from the SFA after ref John Beaton sent off Michael Steinwender and Cammy Devlin - before adding a third after the full time whistle as he flashed red at assistant boss Mike Garrity. Hotline callers, however, have already made up their minds on the matter.

Willie Mercer, Dumfries, said: “Once again the outcome of a cup game at Hampden has been influenced by the inept performance of the match officials. The first red card for Hearts is debatable on the basis that there was a defender capable of covering. The second booking for Devlin was a disgrace, he had his eyes fully on the ball and the Aberdeen player nicks in just as he goes to play it, making the contact accidental. Too often now games have been won and lost through the ineptitude of our referees and I have no doubt that Beaton and his match officials done Hearts out of a place in the final.”

But Ian Urquhart isn’t impressed with the Jambos’ claims.. He emailed: “All season we have had to listen to what Hearts were going to do this season, first it was split the Old Firm, then get third, then top six and win the Scottish Cup. Now it's the referee's fault for cheating. What a lot of nonsense that lot talk, the sooner they realise they are an average team in the bottom half of the league for a reason the better. At this stage they still could be in a relegation scrap. Third team in Scotland? They’re not even the third biggest in Edinburgh.”

And Hibee Neil Renton, Leith, couldn’t resist chipping in. He said: “I had to check that it wasn’t the first of April when I read Hearts’l statement. Maybe they should print out loads of the