The Hampden chiefs stood by the call from referee Steven McLean during the draw at Tynecastle

18:17, 27 Jan 2026Updated 19:35, 27 Jan 2026

(Image: SNS Group)

Seething Celtic insist John Beaton’s intervention for Auston Trusty‘s red card against Hearts was “not consistent with the rules”.

The champions have railed against the VAR man for weighing into the decision, insisting he overstepped the mark.

Celtic’s bemused reaction comes after the SFA kicked out the Hoops appeal of the flashpoint. Landry Kabore was hauled down by the USA international as he broke in behind the Hoops defence, with referee Steven McLean initially showing Trusty a yellow card. But Beaton in the VAR room sent the whistler to review his call at the pitchside monitor.

That saw the card upgraded to a red for denying a clear goalscoring opportunity, before Claudio Braga went on to score a late leveller against 10-man Celtic. Martin O’Neill insisted the match officials got the call wrong following in his post-match debrief, and the Parkhead decision-makers agreed as they took their protests the Hampden chiefs.

However, the SFA stood by the call by whistler McLean as they denied the appeal. The Hoops have now had their say on the hardline decision.

A statement read: “Celtic’s appeal over the red card shown to Auston Trusty in the draw against Hearts at Tynecastle on Sunday has been dismissed, following a Scottish FA hearing today (Tuesday). Clearly we are very disappointed at the outcome of today’s appeal.

“The VAR Protocol requires that VAR only intervenes when there is a ‘clear and obvious error’. It is difficult to see how the original yellow card decision is a clear and obvious error and accordingly, VAR’s intervention by the refereeing team was not consistent with the rules.

“We await the written judgement but will be ensuring further discussions with the SFA on the matter as we seek to understand the rationale for this and other decisions.”

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