A Scottish FA panel has ruled that Celtic midfielder Reo Hatate should have been sent off during his side’s 2-0 victory over Kilmarnock at Rugby Park on Sunday.
The decision comes after Hatate was only shown a yellow card for a late challenge on Liam Donnelly in the 79th minute.
Referee Nick Walsh cautioned Hatate after he caught Donnelly high on the leg, but no on-field review was recommended by VAR operator Don Robertson.
The incident, which occurred after Celtic had secured their lead through goals from Callum McGregor and Nicolas Kuhn, was subsequently assessed by the Scottish FA’s Key Match Incident Review panel.
The five-member committee found, by a narrow three-to-two majority, that Hatate’s challenge merited a red card. The panel concluded that both Walsh and Robertson had made errors in judgment.
In their report, the review panel stated:
“The panel discussed this decision at length with the majority (3:2) deeming the onfield decision incorrect. The majority (3:2) believed that VAR should have intervened and recommended an OFR for a red card to be awarded as they believed that the challenge endangered the safety of the opponent. Two members of the panel highlighted that they didn’t think the potential foul was clear and obvious enough for VAR to get involved and a caution sufficed.”
Despite the panel’s findings, Kilmarnock manager Derek McInnes expressed no hard feelings over the incident. After the match, McInnes said:
“Do you know, at the time, I thought it was quite high. I didn’t think there was a lot of force in it. And when it goes to VAR, sometimes when you see a picture, I’m sure the pictures wouldn’t have looked good.
“But in terms of actual force, I’m not sure it was exactly a red card, to be honest. So obviously, we would take that, because I think we’ve been victims of that a lot, but sometimes you don’t get these wee breaks against a team like Celtic. But I didn’t think there was a lot of force on it. I didn’t think it was a bad tackle.”
Not everyone saw it that way. Sky Sports pundit Kris Boyd was unequivocal in his assessment, branding the incident a clear red card. Boyd, a former Rangers striker, said:
“It’s a red card all day long. See in terms of force and because he turns around and says, sorry, you can’t catch a player that far up the leg and turn around and say sorry and get away with it.
“He catches him right on the top of the leg, just below the knee. It is impossible not to be sent off. So the referee gets it wrong on the pitch, and then Don Robertson goes and gets it wrong in the VAR room. That is a red card all day long.”
The Hatate controversy was the only incident flagged in the weekend’s Scottish Premiership action. The Key Match Incident panel reviewed 10 decisions in total, finding no other errors across the fixtures played on November 9-10.