Inverness have expressed their shock after Chris Hogg lost his appeal against the red card he received against Motherwell.
Inverness 'astonished' by SFA tribunal outcome
Inverness have expressed their shock after Chris Hogg lost his appeal against the red card he received in the 3-2 defeat against Motherwell.
Hogg was ruled to have denied Jamie Murphy an obvious goalscoring opportunity when he tripped the Motherwell striker just before Tom Hateley hit a late free-kick winner.
Inverness felt there were two covering defenders who would have prevented Murphy running through on goal but the Scottish Football Association's fast track tribunal upheld referee Crawford Allan's decision.
Inverness assistant manager Maurice Malpas was incredulous at the outcome and pointed to a similar incident at the weekend where Hearts defender Marius Zaliukas was booked for bringing down Kilmarnock striker Paul Heffernan in the box.
Hogg will now miss Caley Thistle's SPL clash with Kilmarnock at Rugby Park on Saturday.
"I'm absolutely astonished at the decision," Malpas said.
"I'm astonished that they believed that the referee was correct, that Jamie Murphy had complete control of the ball and was going to score.
"We thought we had a very good case but the compliance officer and the panel were of the same mind with the referee.
"We're upset at the consistency of the referees in terms of the decision here and the decision at Tynecastle on Saturday.
"That's for the SFA to try and solve. That's for the SFA to try and explain.
"Our situation is that Chris Hogg misses Saturday now, an important player in our team who has been out for a long time, who'll be twiddling his thumbs on Saturday at the game."
Commanding
Bottom club Inverness lost an appeal against Ross Tokely's red card against Rangers earlier in the season.
And their frustration was exacerbated by the fact that Hogg's appearance against Motherwell was his comeback from a two-month lay-off following knee surgery.
Malpas said: "We thought Chris did well on Saturday. He came back and showed a very commanding performance. We were thrilled with the way he played.
"We have got to change our team for Saturday and we're trying to get a bit of consistency in team selection, especially at the back."
As well as Hogg, Thomas Piermayr is also suspended for the Rugby Park clash. Lee Cox will miss out with a dead leg and Nick Ross is struggling with a groin injury, but David Proctor will return following a head injury.
