Kris Boyd insists if the shoe was on the other foot, and a Celtic player was on the receiving end of the kind of tackle Reo Hatate put in on Kilmarnock's Liam Donnelly, then 'they would have been going off their head'.
The Rangers idol slammed the decision not to show a red card by referee Nick Walsh and VAR Don Robertson over the incident.
With 10 minutes remaining, the Japanese midfielder stormed into the late lunge on Donnelly around the halfway line.
He caught the Northern Ireland international just below his knee, with his studs fully showing.
🟥 “It’s a red card all day long” 🗣️ “He's very fortunate” Kris Boyd & James McFadden on Reo Hatate’s challenge, which he was given a yellow card for ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/z5Uz0Nn7au
— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) November 10, 2024
Walsh brandished a yellow card for the incident, with VAR checking it and backing up the on-field call.
Speaking about the flashpoint post-match in the Sky Studio alongside James McFadden and Eilidh Barbour, Boyd said: "It’s a red card. It’s a red card. It’s a red card. All day long.
"You can’t catch a player that far up a leg and turn round and say sorry and hope to get away with it. He catches him below the knee. Just below the knee. It’s impossible not to get sent off there.
"So the referee gets it wrong on the pitch and Don Robertson gets it wrong in the VAR room. That’s a red card all day long."
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McFadden added: "I don't know because you need to go with endangering an opponent, which he is. It's high, it's outstretched.
"The excessive force or brutality is not there in terms of, he's not going in with a huge amount of force. I know he pulls out, but his leg is extended, it's high and his studs are showing.
"A lot of people will say that the game has gone soft, that would still have been a red card. I think he's very fortunate."
Boyd came back in: "I know we're laughing and joking about it but see if that's against Celtic, they would have been going off their head tonight.
"There will be nothing said tonight. That's a red card all day long."
