Raging Steven Naismith has slammed the decision to send off Hearts' star Alex Cochrane against Celtic as he reacted to his side's 2-0 defeat.
The defender was adjudged to have fouled Daizen Maeda on the right flank at Tynecastle, with referee Nick Walsh issuing a booking for the challenge. However, he would be called to review the incident by Willie Collum in the VAR room just before the half-time whistle. That saw the man in the middle overturn his original call and issue a red card to the Hearts man for denying a goalscoring opportunity.
Celtic would go on to claim the Scottish Premiership title with a 2-0 victory thanks to second half goals from Kyogo Furuhashi and Hyeongyu Oh, but Naismith felt that going down to 10 men was the turning point in the clash. Asked for his view on the sending off, he told Sky Sports: "I don't agree with it. The referee's original decision was a good one.
"He was up with play and he was in the right area of the pitch, and I think there is a lot of work to do as a forward. I know myself as a forward there is a lot of work to do before he gets a chance on goal. The two players near the ball are in very similar positions, which would indicated they would get there at similar timings.
"It's not a clear and obvious error, for me. The ref is up with play. It has a big impact on the game, and it's so frustrating that I am standing here after the game talking about it."
Asked what the next step for the club would be and if they planned to appeal the call, Naismith added: "To be honest, I am not 100 per cent clear on the rules and the appeals process. We will talk about the pros and cons and make our call then. The last thing you want is after a VAR call losing a player for more games than you should be."
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