Mixu Paatelainen accused the Hearts captain, Christophe Berra, of "jumping like a brown trout" to engineer the dismissal of Steven Fletcher.

The Hibernian manager believes Berra's over-reaction convinced the referee, Craig Thomson, to send off the striker after only 30 minutes of yesterday's Homecoming Scottish Cup match at Easter Road. Hearts went on to win 2-0 with goals from Christian Nade and the late substitute, Gary Glen, to set up a fifth-round tie against Falkirk at Tynecastle.

Paatelainen insisted Fletcher did not make contact with the Hearts defender until the striker's boot had planted in the turf, and he deemed the incident at worst only worthy of a yellow card, even if Fletcher had made initial contact.

"For me, it was never a sending off," said Paatelainen. "Steven Fletcher did not kick him at all, but Christophe Berra jumps like a brown trout to make it worse. The referee has a very difficult job, but I am very disappointed. He doesn't even touch him; his foot is on the ground before the player reacts.

"If he tried to harm the player then it is a different matter, but his foot touched the ground before Berra moved. For me, it's not even worth a yellow, and even if the referee thought it was a dangerous tackle, I still think it was only maybe worth a yellow."

Paatelainen remonstrated with Thomson during the second half and was fortunate not to be sent to the stand as he accused other Hearts players of overreacting.

He was forced to play a 4-3-2 formation after Nade's 37th-minute opener left the hosts chasing the tie, and Paatelainen was adamant his side were the likelier to score until they were reduced to 10 players.

"It's a massive disappointment, because I thought we started fantastically and totally dominated," he said. "We caused them problems and could have scored before the turning point in the game. The sending off totally affected our gameplan."

Berra rejected the suggestion he overreacted and instead claimed he could have suffered serious injury if he did not take such evasive action.

"I took a touch and toe-poked it a bit and if I'd stayed on my feet, he could have hurt me quite badly," he said. "If I didn't try to get out of the way a bit, it could have been worse."

Csaba Laszlo declined to enter into the debate, but he empathised with Paatelainen's disappointment then proceeded to bemoan the fact his strikers did not score a barrow-load.

"Normally, it would be 4-0 with the chances created, but the killer instinct was not there," he said. "We were missing chances from five metres and for that reason I am unhappy. This is not a joke, this is serious stuff."

On the Fletcher sending off, he was less straightforward. "I think you must see the replay before you make a decision, but obviously there is a lot of emotion and I understand my colleague's disappointment," he said.

"For me, the referee handled the occasion very well."

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