Hopes fade for Mulgrew

Published on Monday 6 October 2008 21:44

THE Scottish Football Association has all but scuppered Aberdeen's hopes of successfully appealing Charlie Mulgrew's red card against Hibernian.

The defender was dismissed for handling on the line in Saturday's 2-1 Clydesdale Bank Premier League defeat at Pittodrie despite Hibs striker Steven Fletcher appearing to be in an offside position when he flicked the ball onto Mulgrew.

Dons manager Jimmy Calderwood had hoped arguing that point would help get Mulgrew's automatic one-match ban overturned.

But SFA spokesman Rob Shorthouse said yesterday: "The club can appeal against the handball decision if they want. But they would need to prove Mulgrew didn't deliberately handle the ball, which would clearly be very difficult.

"The circumstances which led up to the handball incident wouldn't be considered. The referee had made a decision and the ball was still in open play when it reached Mulgrew."

Aberdeen are still deliberating over whether to appeal.