O'Neill ponders red card appeals

Martin O'Neill, the Celtic manager, has delayed his decision until today on whether to make an appeal against the dismissals of John Hartson and Johan Mjallby in Sunday's Old Firm match at Parkhead.

The pair were sent off along with the Rangers defender Fernando Ricksen in the final minutes of the 1-1 Scottish Premier League draw following a clash between both sets of players.

O'Neill felt the referee, Kenny Clark, got it wrong and is considering asking Scottish disciplinary officials to overturn or reduce the original punishment.

Celtic are set to contact the SPL today, but O'Neill knows that he could be wasting his time after some unsuccessful requests this season. Celtic's Bobo Balde recently failed with an appeal while Alan Thompson's hopes of having a red card overturned were denied but the Aberdeen player Hicham Zerouali had his dismissal in the same game reduced to a yellow card.

If O'Neill decides against an appeal or the Scottish Football Association upheld their original decision, then he would be without Hartson and Mjallby for this weekend's game at Hearts and the final game of the season against Aberdeen. Hartson would also miss the first game of next season, but O'Neill is relieved that they will be available for the Tennent's Scottish Cup final on 4 May.

Clark dismissed Mjallby, Hartson and Ricksen in the dying moments of the 1-1 draw after a goalmouth mêlée.

Mjallby said: "There were a lot of hard feelings at the end but the referee just wanted to show his power and the red card was ridiculous.

"I was very worried as I left the pitch – I thought I was going to miss the cup final."