Inverness seek 'justice' after Tansey dismissal

Greg Tansey (right) was sent off for this challenge on Georgios Samaras (Reuters)

Inverness have confirmed they will appeal against the red card issued to Greg Tansey during Saturday's Scottish Premier League game against Celtic. The midfielder was dismissed in the 36th minute at the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium by referee Stevie O'Reilly following an aerial challenge with the Celtic striker Georgios Samaras.

Celtic went on to win 2-0 with two second-half goals from Anthony Stokes.

A statement on the official Inverness website read: "Terry Butcher [the manager] has confirmed this morning that the club are to appeal the red card issued by Stephen O'Reilly to Greg Tansey in last Saturday's SPL fixture against Celtic.

"This is the third red card issued to an ICT player this season, and the third time they have felt they had a good case to have it overturned – something that has been denied on the previous two occasions which involved Ross Tokely and Chris Hogg."

Speaking after the game on Saturday, a furious Butcher said: "I have seen it several times and it was a deadly assault by a fingernail. Greg Tansey goes up to win the ball as you would do and Samaras did as well.

"The referee said to Tansey that he led with his elbow. His elbow is nowhere near Samaras' face. His hand flicked against his face and Samaras went down holding his face. If you see it and when you do see it, you will say that it is never ever a red card. It is not a yellow card but it materially affected the outcome of the match."

Inverness have already had two appeals against red cards thrown out by the Scottish Football Association's new tribunal system this season. Tokely was sent off against Rangers in August, while Hogg was dismissed against Motherwell last month, both for "denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity".

Butcher added: "The people are saying it is a fast-track system. Well, it is a fast track to nowhere as far as I am concerned. There is no justice in the appeal [process], it is a kangaroo court as far as I'm concerned."

Butcher later expressed confidence that Tansey's case was stronger than the previous two appeals. He said: "I have taken time to consult and to fully review the TV tapes, not wishing to go solely by my first instincts that it was an overly harsh decision to send Greg off.

"I am, however, now convinced that we have a strong case to overturn the referee's decision and that Tansey will be available to face Hearts at Tynecastle this weekend.

"We are hoping it will be third time lucky after the appeals tribunal rejected our previous objections to red cards for Ross Tokely and Chris Hogg, each of which we felt was unfortunate. But Greg, we feel, has a stronger case than the previous two."