Celtic have criticised the SFA after their appeal against Auston Trusty’s red card was rejected
Celtic have furiously maintained that John Beaton’s involvement in Auston Trusty’s dismissal during the Hearts match was “not consistent with the rules”.
The Glasgow giants have objected to the VAR official’s decision to intervene, arguing he exceeded his authority.
The club’s frustration follows the SFA’s rejection of their appeal regarding the controversial incident. Landry Kabore was brought down by the American defender as he raced through Celtic’s backline, with referee Steven McLean originally brandishing a yellow card.
However, Beaton, monitoring proceedings from the VAR booth, instructed the official to reassess his decision via the pitchside screen.
This led to the caution being changed to a dismissal for preventing an obvious goal-scoring chance, before Claudio Braga netted a dramatic late equaliser against the 10 men of Celtic. Manager Martin O’Neill maintained the officials had erred in his post-match assessment, with the Parkhead hierarchy supporting this view as they lodged their complaint with the Hampden authorities, reports the Daily Record.
Nevertheless, the SFA upheld referee McLean’s judgement by rejecting the appeal. The Hoops have now issued their response to the controversial ruling.
Their statement declared: “Celtic’s appeal over the red card shown to Auston Trusty in the draw against Hearts at Tynecastle on Sunday has been dismissed, following a Scottish FA hearing today (Tuesday). Clearly we are very disappointed at the outcome of today’s appeal.
“The VAR Protocol requires that VAR only intervenes when there is a ‘clear and obvious error’. It is difficult to see how the original yellow card decision is a clear and obvious error and accordingly, VAR’s intervention by the refereeing team was not consistent with the rules.
“We await the written judgement but will be ensuring further discussions with the SFA on the matter as we seek to understand the rationale for this and other decisions.”
