Brechin City's appeal against the sending off of Graham Gibson in the first division match against Clyde at Glebe Park on December 27th has been upheld by the SFA.
Gibson's Red card has been reduced to a yellow which means the striker is available for Saturdays home match against St Mirren.
"The club is pleased from the players point of view that the sending off will not stand" said secretary Ken Ferguson. "we felt strongly it was not a red card offence"
The player himself was shocked at the accusation of "violent conduct" after a tackle on Clyde's Jim Gibson.
"I went to win the ball then the referee sent me off for retaliating. It was the other guy who pushed me in the face" Graham Gibson said.
City manager Dick Campbell said that whatever Gibson was judged to have been guilty of, it had never been a red card offence.
While happy with the SFA's decision, he expressed a simmering sense of injustice that the referees original decision had left his team with only nine outfield players for most of the match. "In my opinion, that cost us the game" he said.
Campbell has, however, more pressing problems. He is desperately seeking a new face to help shore-up a leaky defence that has lost 57 goals in cup and league competition. The problem was highlighted in Saturdays Scottish Cup ties against Inverness CT when City let in 5 goals, although Campbell was quick to stress that he could not fault his keeper.
"you defend from the front, I know, but finding a defender is my first priority," he acknowledged yesterday. "Davie White still has one match of his three match suspension to serve and I am nowhere near getting anybody in. " I am in contact with half a dozen players but we need players better that we have and for that kind of quality, you are competing against full-time clubs. "The annoying thing is that everyone is wanting them at the same time because of the tranfer window" he added.
Gibson's Red card has been reduced to a yellow which means the striker is available for Saturdays home match against St Mirren.
"The club is pleased from the players point of view that the sending off will not stand" said secretary Ken Ferguson. "we felt strongly it was not a red card offence"
The player himself was shocked at the accusation of "violent conduct" after a tackle on Clyde's Jim Gibson.
"I went to win the ball then the referee sent me off for retaliating. It was the other guy who pushed me in the face" Graham Gibson said.
City manager Dick Campbell said that whatever Gibson was judged to have been guilty of, it had never been a red card offence.
While happy with the SFA's decision, he expressed a simmering sense of injustice that the referees original decision had left his team with only nine outfield players for most of the match. "In my opinion, that cost us the game" he said.
Campbell has, however, more pressing problems. He is desperately seeking a new face to help shore-up a leaky defence that has lost 57 goals in cup and league competition. The problem was highlighted in Saturdays Scottish Cup ties against Inverness CT when City let in 5 goals, although Campbell was quick to stress that he could not fault his keeper.
"you defend from the front, I know, but finding a defender is my first priority," he acknowledged yesterday. "Davie White still has one match of his three match suspension to serve and I am nowhere near getting anybody in. " I am in contact with half a dozen players but we need players better that we have and for that kind of quality, you are competing against full-time clubs. "The annoying thing is that everyone is wanting them at the same time because of the tranfer window" he added.
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