Celtic have been informed that John Beaton should not have intervened in Auston Trusty’s dismissal at Tynecastle on Sunday, according to a former leading SFA referee.
The Hoops were held to a 2-2 draw in a heated Gorgie encounter but believe they were denied all three points following a contentious red card shown to the American defender. Trusty was punished for hauling down Pierre Landry Kabore with Celtic holding a 2-1 advantage heading into the final quarter of an hour. While match referee Steven McLean initially judged a yellow card to be sufficient, VAR official John Beaton advised an on-field review.
McLean subsequently agreed with Beaton’s assessment that the offence merited a harsher punishment and sent Trusty off, with Hearts later snatching a crucial point through Claudio Braga’s late leveller.
Martin O’Neill expressed his anger at the ruling after the match, and Celtic have since confirmed they will appeal the decision. Former referee Roache, speaking exclusively on tonight’s Hotline Live, believes the club have strong grounds.
Roache insists it did not amount to an obvious goalscoring opportunity and argues the VAR officials should not have intervened. He also maintains McLean’s original judgement was the right one.
He told Keith Jackson and Craig Swan on tonight’s show: “My view is it shouldn’t have been a red card, it’s a yellow card.
“When you’re looking at denial of a goalscoring opportunity, you’ve got to look at the criteria that is set. The first one is distance to goal. This was 25-30 yards out.
“Where is his general direction of play? He’s going away from goal, he’s not going towards goal.
“What is the likelihood of control? He’s played the ball 10-12 yards ahead of him.
You also have to consider the number of defenders and the position of them.
“I think McLean called it correct at the time. I’ve just seen a comment about how it’s a last man red card – there’s no such thing. It’s about denial of an obvious goalscoring opportunity.
“The bit I take my belief from is the word ‘obvious’. Is it an obvious goalscoring opportunity. It’s not obvious.
“He may have a chance, he may not. It’s not obvious. What I think is entirely wrong with it is John Beaton has decided to get involved and re-referee that situation, and overturn Steven McLean. It’s a subjective opinion. Steven’s seen it and decided it’s a yellow card, which I’m fine with, and then John Beaton’s got involved to overturn it.
“That’s not what VAR is there for. It’s there for clear and obvious errors – that isn’t obvious. It isn’t an obvious opportunity, and it isn’t an obvious error. The fact we’re still talking about it 24 hours later shows you it’s not clear. John Beaton had no reason to get involved with that decision.