5 hours ago
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The SFA’s Key Match Incident Panel have concluded that Auston Trusty SHOULD have been sent off for kicking Jack Butland in the head during last Sunday’s Old Firm Premier Sports Cup semi-final.
With Celtic a goal up and a man up in the first half following the dismissal of Rangers’ Thelo Aasgaard, Parkhead defender Trusty made contact with the grounded goalkeeper after he had gathered a loose ball.
The Ibrox side were incensed when referee Nick Walsh only booked the player, with VAR Steven McLean believing that sanction was enough.
Martin O’Neill’s side went on to win the game 3-1 in extra-time, sparking a furious response from the Ibrox club.
Now, by a majority of two to one, the panel have decided following a review of the flashpoint that McLean was wrong not to intervene and recommend an on-field review, after which a red card should have been awarded.
However, the panel did conclude by a unanimous majority that the correct decisions were made in disallowing Nicolas Raskin’s own goal for offside by a Celtic player, the earlier red card to Aasgaard, the penalty against Anthony Ralston for handball, and the yellow card given to Derek Cornelius for a foul on Johnny Kenny.
Auston Trusty caught Jack Butland on the head as he challenged for a ball in the area
Rangers players were furious with Nick Walsh's decision to only brandish a yellow card
Butland admitted that it was 'difficult to accept' that Trusty wasn't ordered off at the time
The three-person panel consists of an independent member with an established career within Scottish football — such as a coach or former player — one laws-of-the-game expert and one representative from SPFL clubs
On Monday, Rangers released a statement saying the handling of key incidents during the Hampden semi-final had ‘again raised legitimate concerns about the consistency of refereeing in Scottish football.’
A group of senior Ibrox officials, including chief executive Patrick Stewart, met on Monday evening with the SFA’s head of refereeing Willie Collum to express a number of concerns.
But the club insisted that they remained ‘unsatisfied’ with the explanation offered to them about the Trusty incident, and they clamed the VAR process had not been robust or thorough enough.
Butland yesterday broke his silence on the Hampden flashpoint, saying it was ‘difficult to accept’ that Trusty hadn’t been dismissed.
‘There’s been a lot of a lot of opinions on it,’ said the former England goalie. ‘At the time, I thought it was late.
'Was there a massive amount of malice involved? Not necessarily, but was it mistimed?
‘As a keeper when you’re putting yourself in that position to be brave and go to intercept the ball, you’d like to think that you’re protected in a sense from things like that.
Thelo Aasgaard was shown a straight red card for a high tackle on Celtic's Anthony Ralston
‘Seeing that afterwards, it was perhaps later than I thought in real time as well. So, a difficult one to accept.
‘Obviously, conversations have been had since. Difficult to accept that it’s perhaps a precedent that is going to continue, if that’s a similar situation against any team, regardless of who it is.
‘I think there will be more discussions on it just for a few more answers, but I think I share the views of probably the majority on it.’
Speaking at Hampden, Trusty insisted he hadn’t done much wrong and had only ‘tapped’ Butland on the head rather than kicked him.
‘I didn’t think much of it, I’m apologetic and you see my hands [going up] to say I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘It doesn’t matter, rivalry or whatever it is, it’s not the kind of human I am.
‘I tapped him, I didn’t boot him in the head.
‘I didn’t actually mean it, you could see my demeanour and my reaction to tapping him on the head.
‘No one means to boot somebody in the head or kick somebody in the head, I tapped him in the head, that’s all it was.
Miguel Freckleton's disallowed goal for St Mirren against Hearts this month should have stood
‘It’s just Rangers and Celtic. No matter whatever side has a positive result, the other side is going to say whatever and it’s just how football works in this country and from this rivalry. I don’t think you can really escape that.'
The KMI panel also judged that the disallowed goal scored by St Mirren’s Miguel Freckleton against Hearts should have stood.
The defender thought he had put Saints 3-1 up during the Premiership game in Paisley on Wednesday, October 29,, but it was ruled out due to an offside in the build-up, involving St Mirren’s Mark O’Hara.
Instead of finding themselves 3-1 behind, Hearts then went on to level the game 2-2 and remain unbeaten in the Premiership.
