Changing room chat: Dons ref shows invisible yellow card

ANYONE who saw Sportscene on Sunday night would surely have agreed wholeheartedly with studio guest Craig Brown when the Aberdeen manager queried why Ryan Jack had been booked for celebrating near the Dons fans after his equaliser at Parkhead earlier in the day, yet Celtic’s Charlie Mulgrew had avoided any punishment for similar antics in front of the home support when he scored the winner.

Brown is not often one for criticising the match officials but, after pouring over replays of both celebrations with programme host Rob Maclean, he questioned why referee Stevie O’Reilly had shown such inconsistency. Jack’s booking was especially a sticking point for the manager because the young right-back was handed a second yellow card later in the 2-1 defeat and Aberdeen were reduced to ten men.

But Brown’s face is perhaps as red as the colour of his team’s shirts after it emerged yesterday that Mulgrew was booked. It clearly wasn’t picked up by the Sportscene cameras – or anyone in the away dugout – but the defender’s name was taken by O’Reilly following his 72nd-minute goal. A grovelling Brown has phoned John Fleming at the SFA to pass on his apologies.