Referee Andrew Dallas apologises for wrongly booking Hearts' Martin

Hearts midfielder Malaury Martin is wrongly yellow carded by Andrew Dallas

The SFA official telephoned the Edinburgh club's head coach, Ian Cathro, to admit his error. He cautioned Martin for a foul on Motherwell's Louis Moult at Fir Park on Saturday despite the striker clearly tripping over team-mate Lionel Ainsworth's foot.

Hearts hoped to appeal the decision on the grounds of mistaken identity. However, SFA officials told them there was no such avenue for an appeal.

Rules state that a claim of mistaken identity can be submitted if an offence has been committed by another player. Because there was technically no offence, Martin must accept the booking.

"I've actually taken a phonecall from Andrew Dallas, the match referee, who is accepting of the error he made," Cathro told Sky Sports. "We're thankful for the position he's taken on that, just disappointed that Malaury still has to suffer having that yellow card against him."

Hearts have called for an immediate change in the rules to prevent such a scenario recurring. "Ultimately, we were hoping that sense would be able to prevail. We've learned that nothing can be done," added Cathro.

"I think there's something there for everybody moving forward. Hopefully there will be some discretionary way of being able to step up and deal with that."