O’Neill’s argument was that the ball appeared to rolling away from the goal and Kabore would have been out quite wide if he had managed to reach it, while Liam Scales was also trying to get back in to cover.

The Celtic interim boss said: “Yeah, I do have an argument with the red card. The referee’s given a yellow card and is sent over to VAR to re-referee the game.

“My take on it is that, first of all, the ball is going away from the goal, so the player has to get a hold of that and control it.

“And secondly, and more importantly, is that we’ve got someone on the cover. So that’s what the referee saw in the first place. He was pretty close to it, and it’s not.

“So it puts you under severe pressure in the last 20-odd minutes.”

Of Sky Sports’ three pundits, only on had a little bit of sympathy with O’Neill’s feelings on the matter.

Former Hearts defender and manager Craig Levein said: “I think it’s a red card because Kabore’s got really good pace. And that’s the main thing here for me; he would get to the ball and he can shift it from his right to his left and get a shot away before either of those defenders can get back in line. And for me, then it’s the correct decision.”

Darren O’Dea said: “It’s the line of the pass that I agree with. The line of the pass, you’ve got Trusty and Dane Murray are pretty much in line with each other. You definitely, definitely can put the argument up that there’s a couple of defenders, but in saying that, I think if he goes through he’s getting a shot on goal, maybe five yards outside the post. I can understand either way. Once it went to VAR it was always going to be a red card. But I can understand Martin’s argument.”

Kris Boyd added: “I can totally understand why Steven McLean gave a yellow card because he then has to go and look at it. It’s a great example of VAR working in Scotland. If that foul wasn’t committed, would Kabore, the attacker, have gained possession of the ball and been able to head towards goal and be able to get a shot away? The answer is yes. So it falls into the red category.

“Martin can go on about it all he wants, speak about blue cards, it is a red card all day long. He’s maybe a little bit disappointed that his team haven’t left here with three points, but that is the laws of the game and it is a red card.

“He’s maybe a little bit shocked that Celtic get a red card because it doesn’t happen in Scottish football that often, but ultimately the laws of the game, because it’s the truth, the laws of the game tell you it’s a red card.”