Derek McInnes was left in “despair” by the decision to send off Danny Armstrong while Kilmarnock were threatening an equaliser in their 1-0 defeat away to resurgent Hibernian.
The Easter Road side led through a first-half header from Nectar Triantis but Killie started the second period strongly and McInnes felt they were starting to make the hosts “anxious” before Armstrong was dismissed in the 63rd minute.
The winger, booked four minutes earlier for a foul on Nicky Cadden, was shown a second yellow after appearing to catch Jack Iredale as the Hibs defender tried to clear the ball on the edge of his own six-yard box.
Iredale left the field injured a couple of minutes later but the Killie boss was adamant it was not a foul and that his team should not have received an eighth red card of the season.
“I’m annoyed with Danny’s (first) yellow card, because he becomes involved with Cadden,” said McInnes. “It’s a foul and I can see why the referee has given him a yellow.
“The second one isn’t even a foul. I’ve watched it numerous times because I wanted to be sure coming up here (to the media room).
“Danny is slow getting in, he should’ve been sensing it and I wanted him on the inside of Iredale for a tap-in.
“All he’s tried to do is use his body to get a deflection from three or four yards out to get it over the line.
“If there is contact – and I’m saying ‘if’ – Iredale has swung his leg, Danny has made sure he’s not gone in with his feet, and he’s maybe hit Danny on his way through. All he can do is make himself big.
“It’s not a foul but if it is, there is no way that it’s another yellow card.
“I despair at that decision. And at that point I thought Hibs looked a bit anxious. They were giving the ball away loosely and they were getting a bit agitated.
“We were having our best spell but we lost all momentum with the red card decision.
“I don’t want to keep going on about it, and clearly I’m not proud with my team having another red card, but I’m at my wits’ end as to how that can be a red card.”
Hibs, who were bottom of the Premiership after losing at Celtic earlier this month, moved within three points of the top six after making it four wins on the spin for the first time since October 2022.
Manager David Gray was delighted to grind out victory just three days after the euphoria of their Edinburgh derby win over Hearts.
“Can we play miles better? Yes, that wasn’t a classic by any means,” he said.
“The conditions were really difficult for both teams, but I think we limited them to very few chances and dealt with their physicality.
“The big thing for me was all about the result today, especially off the back of such a big result and performance at Tynecastle.
“We needed to back that up today with a win, and credit to the players and everyone involved for doing that. It wasn’t the prettiest but we take a lot of confidence from four straight wins.”
