Kilmarnock boss Steve Clarke has backed referee Don Robertson to handle the “volatile” Tynecastle atmosphere on Saturday.

The Rugby Park boss takes his side to Gorgie for their second meeting with Craig Levein’s table-topping Hearts.

Their first meeting back in August landed Clarke in trouble with the Scottish Football Association as he criticised official Willie Collum for the controversial red card he showed to midfielder Gary Dicker.

The former West Brom and Reading manager was given a suspended two-match ban for his comments about Collum and the Hampden appeals process.

But ahead of their capital rematch, Clarke is pleased with the choice of official.

He said: “I think it will be a really difficult game. You get a really volatile atmosphere through there at Tynecastle, the crowd shouts for every decision.

“But we have a good referee this weekend, so there’s no problems with that one.

“It can be an intimidating place to go or it can be a great place to go in front of a passionate football crowd.

“Our recent away performances have been OK so we look forward to what should be a decent game between two teams in the top four. I don’t think too many people back at the start of the season would have been expecting that to be the situation in the middle of November.”

Levein’s side remain top of the table despite a raft of injuries to key men like defenders Christophe Berra and John Souttar and front pair Steven Naismith and Uche Ikpeazu.

But Clarke – whose team can close to within two points of the Jambos with a win in Edinburgh – reckons the Hearts boss deserves praise for managing his battered squad through a tough run of matches.

He said: “They are top of the league having had so many injuries, so that shows the strength of their squad.

“I think they’ve coped with it really, really well. To lose key strikers is really difficult. We’ve had something similar losing Eamonn Brophy and Greg Stewart for a couple of games.

“And it does make a difference to you’re team. That’s when you need your squad players to step up and the Hearts boys have done that.”