Hearts boss Csaba Laszlo admitted he substituted Christian Nade in the scoreless draw with Dundee United because he feared the player would be red carded. The Frenchman was fortunate to escape with only a yellow card in the 33rd minute following an ugly foul on United left-back Paul Dixon.

Laszlo explained: "A lot of people think I'm a nice guy and have understanding for everything.

"But I don't have any understanding in my job for indiscipline and we must be very correct.

"If the referee saw 100% Christian's frustration he could have given a red card and I must protect my team and my player.

"We don't have any problem. I have talked with Christian and he understands.

"I don't think the tackle was a red card but it could have happened after that.

"You must make decisions and I don't think it was a negative, it sometimes happens.

"Christian is a good guy and if he trains fully next week he will be in the team."

Hearts are now unbeaten in seven matches.

He added: "I think it was good publicity for Scottish football. You had two teams making very good running at the moment.

"We had two or three very good possibilities. Sometimes we play without a striker but we are dangerous from any position.

"This is positive. These chances we used against Celtic and Rangers but today we didn't use them. That was the key point from the game."