Lee Johnson says Hibs were limited in how they wanted to play after a red card for Elie Youan in their 3-1 defeat to Celtic.
Josh Campbell had given the away side the lead in Glasgow, shortly after the French striker was sent off for two quick bookings. The second of which was picked up for an entanglement with Cameron Carter-Vickers that left the away bench enraged as Steven McLean flashed the second yellow, with the ref going to VAR as he handed Hibs a penalty for Carl Starfelt's shirt pull on Paul Hanlon.
The Hibs stalwart then turned offender when hauling down Carter-Vickers in the box, and the tech was called upon once more when a David Marshall foul in the box on Liel Abada was overturned. It mattered little to the eventual outcome as Jota converted the spot kick which Hanlon conceded before Oh and Sead Haksabanovic efforts off the bench. But Johnson - who was handed a yellow card in the game - tells Sportsound: “I was certainly pleased with the character. It's difficult enough a place to come, and then to be restricted in the way we want to play, in my eyes, a really, 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 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.
“Having played myself, he's pinned Carter-Vickers, who’s a strong boy. 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.
“He's a 6’3 player 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.
“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.
“Surely if there’s a sending off and it’s 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.”
