Ryan Edwards red card appeal verdict and what the Hearts and Dunddee United manager said

Dundee United have lost their appeal against Ryan Edwards’ red card against Hearts at Tynecastle Park.

The United captain will now miss Saturday's Scottish Cup tie against Kilmarnock and the following weekend's cinch Premiership encounter with St Johnstone. The defender was shown a straight red card following a VAR review of his challenge on Hearts midfielder Andy Halliday.

Referee Nick Walsh initially played on but acted after checking his monitor on the advice of video assistant Chris Graham. Edwards had won the ball but caught Halliday with his follow through and the Hearts midfielder showed off the resulting stud mark down the side of his leg.

United head coach Liam Fox said after the game: “My initial reaction was that it's a really, really good tackle so that's disappointing. The referee said it was excessive force, I just thought it was a good tackle. Maybe I'm getting old, but that's a normal tackle in my day. If you slow anything down, it can look worse than it is. It’s a contact game. In a contact game there will always be incidents that, if you slow them down, you’d probably be looking at three or four red cards every game.”

Ryan Edwards was sent off for a challenge on Andy Halliday. Picture: Ross Parker / SNS

United were ahead at the time of the 29th-minute incident and went on to lose 3-1 to remain bottom of the cinch Premiership. They had succeeded before with an appeal against a VAR-assisted red card, overturning Tony Watt's dismissal against Motherwell in October. But this time a fast-track panel convened by the Scottish Football Association dismissed their case.

United striker Steven Fletcher revealed he had seen Halliday’s leg following the challenge and confirmed “it didn’t look great”. However, Robbie Neilson admitted after the game that he “would be really disappointed” if one of his players was sent off for such a challenge. The Hearts boss said: “I thought it was a strong challenge at the time. He went in for the ball and it wasn’t high. I might be proved wrong but I didn’t think it was a red at the time.”

The IFAB laws of the game state “a tackle or challenge that endangers the safety of an opponent or uses excessive force or brutality must be sanctioned as serious foul play. Any player who lunges at an opponent in challenging for the ball from the front, from the side or from behind using one or both legs, with excessive force or endangers the safety of an opponent is guilty of serious foul play.”