Aberdeen winger Hayes loses red card appeal

Aberdeen's Jonny Hayes (right) is shown a red card against Celtic Picture: Alan Harvey/SNS

ABERDEEN winger Jonny Hayes has lost his appeal against his sending-off against Celtic.

Hayes will now miss the Ladbrokes Premiership leaders’ trips to Edinburgh to face Hearts on Sunday and Hibernian on Wednesday, the latter in the League Cup.

Hayes was sent off for serious foul play by Craig Thomson following a sliding challenge on Mikael Lustig with the scores tied during Aberdeen’s 2-1 victory at Pittodrie on Saturday.

Writing on his Twitter account, Hayes vowed to learn from the ban.

The Irishman said: “Obviously gutted with the outcome today! Hearts away is always a fixture you look forward too. Hopefully the boys can continue the run.

“Thank you for the messages and opinions over the last few days! The games changed unfortunately. Just need to learn from it and move on now!”

The news will have come as a shock to Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes, who was confident that a disciplinary panel would rescind the red card at Hampden.

Speaking on Monday, McInnes said: “Having seen the incident again, I don’t even think it’s a foul. I think he’s won the ball.

“When you look at the criteria for serious foul play, other than speed, and Jonny goes into the challenge at pace, other than that we are confident that the decision will be overturned.”