Ryan Porteous red card appeal fails as Hibs defender hit with four-game ban after SFA increases suspension

Hibs have failed in their attempt to overturn the red card shown to Ryan Porteous in Saturday’s 3-1 defeat against Aberdeen.

The 22-year-old was sent off for a foul on Ross McCrorie, with referee Alan Muir awarding a penalty and adjudging the player to have ‘denied the the opposing team or an opponent a goal or an obvious goalscoring opportunity as defined by Law 12’.

The Easter Road side appealed the dismissal, claiming that Porteous had attempted to play the ball – an offence that would ordinarily result in a yellow card.

However, following a fast-track hearing at Hampden, the Scottish FA countered that there was no possibility of the defender successfully playing the ball.

Ryan Porteous has been hit with a four-game ban

As a result, Porteous has been hit with a four-game ban – an increase from the expected three-match suspension facing the player before the hearing.

The centre-back will now miss the league matches against Dundee United on April 2 and Hearts on April 9, as well as the first two Scottish Premiership matches after the split.

He will however be clear to play in the Scottish Cup semi-final against city rivals Hearts at Hampden on April 16, as the suspension relates only to matches in the same competition, i.e. the Scottish Premiership.

Having been sent off for denying an opponent a goalscoring opportunity, which ordinarily carries a one-match suspension, Porteous faced a three-game ban due to earlier suspensions incurred in Scottish top-flight matches.

The defender was sent off for serious foul play in Hibs’ 2-1 defeat by Rangers at Ibrox in early October, and was suspended following a Notice of Complaint after a 1-0 victory over Aberdeen at Easter Road in December.

Each previous suspension triggers an additional one-game ban, hence the expected three-match ban if the appeal failed.

But the additional one-match ban stemmed from the Judicial Protocol Panel taking one of three decisions relating to the appeal.

In the event of a claim being dismissed, the tribunal has to determine whether the claim ‘had no prospect of success’, was ‘an abuse of process or a delaying tactic for the sanction originally imposed’, or ‘was frivolous’.

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