FURIOUS Celtic have slammed the SFA’s decision to uphold Auston Trusty’s red card against Hibs that will see the centre-back banned for three games.
And the Parkhead chiefs claim that referee Matthew MacDermid stated in VAR audio that the Hoops defender’s coming-together with opponent Jamie McGrath was “nothing”.
The match official, though, was sent to the touchline monitor after an intervention by Grant Irvine, at VAR controls, to review the 74th-minute incident.
SEEING RED…referee Matthew MacDermid sends off a stunned Auston Trusty as Martin O’Neill looks on from the touchline.
Astoundingly, MacDermid returned to flash a red card at Trusty and leave the champions a man short for the remainder of the game. The visitors scored three minutes from the end of regulation time to win 2-1, their first success at the venue in 16 years.
Interim boss Martin O’Neill called the decision “harsh” and stated MacDermid had initially planned to warn both players, as CQN reported.
The champions’ appeal was quickly dismissed by a fast-track meeting of the SFA and Trusty will now sit out successive league games at Ibrox on Sunday, Aberdeen at Pittodrie three days later and Motherwell at Parkhead on March 14.
The Hoops hierarchy were far from satisfied with their player’s suspension and a club statement read: “We are hugely disappointed at today’s decision, which will now result in Auston Trusty being suspended for three matches after an “arm to arm” contact as he looked to release himself from being held prior to the ball coming into play – the kind of incident which features in games across the country week in week out.
OFF DAY…Auston Trusty heads for the dressing room – and a three-game ban.
“The match audio demonstrates that the referee saw the incident clearly. Immediately following the incident, the referee said: “It’s nothing, I’m just going to speak to them” in terms of no further action being required.
“In discussions with Celtic Manager Martin O’Neill after the match this was something he also confirmed.
“However, VAR again decided to intervene to ‘re-referee’ an initial decision which had been made.
“While we await the written judgement, this and other decisions in the match and in other recent games demonstrate a serious issue with VAR and its current deployment which needs urgently reviewed.”
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