Lee Johnson has claimed Elie Youan was wrongly sent off against Celtic.
The Hibs striker was shown a second yellow in just the 24th minute of the contest at Parkhead after a collision with Cameron Carter-Vickers.
The forward, 23, was first booked after 19 minutes before his dismissal five minutes later.
But Johnson has defended Youan and insisted the incident could have even resulted in a free-kick for his side despite the striker connecting with Carter-Vickers' head.
“Having played myself, he's pinned Carter-Vickers, who’s a strong boy," said Johnson of the second yellow incident. "The start of it was almost a foul, or potentially a foul for us.
“Elie Youan is then off balance and being pulled over the left shoulder and therefore tries to get contact on the ball - which he does - and the head of Carter-Vickers. But at that point, Carter-Vickers has ducked into it.
"A 6’3 player is ducking into the ball that makes himself about 5 feet. When you add all those up together, it’s definitely not a booking. It’s just a foul either way, then we continue the game.
READ MORE: Celtic 3 Hibernian 1: Instant reaction to the burning issues
“This is the problem with the VAR part of it. The grey area is that they don’t always overturn because they don’t want to make the referee look like he's made a mistake."
Calling for VAR checks even in the case of a second yellow leading to a red, Johnson added: “Surely if there’s a sending-off and it has such a major factor in the game, then that needs to be looked at as well? Whether it's a yellow card, red card, hand ball or penalty.”
While Johnson was disappointed to leave Parkhead emptyhanded he was pleased with his side's performance as he compared a much-improved showing to the last time visiting Celtic Park.
“I was certainly pleased with the character," he said. "It's a difficult enough place to come, and then to be restricted in the way we want to play, in my eyes, a really poor decision.
"That puts more demands on the players but I thought they were outstanding from start to finish. We tried to play as well, but we had to defend for our lives.
“But we looked disciplined. We looked organised and I thought we showed spirit and how far we’ve come from the previous time we played at Parkhead."
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel