There was a lot of off-field noise heading into Celtic’s clash against Hibernian on Sunday, given that the opposition could provide Hearts with a helping hand in the Premiership title race.
There were a lot of empty seats at Easter Road moments before the game, and it was a rather quiet atmosphere.
After just 20 minutes, that silence was deafening when Jamie McGrath was shown a straight red card for a challenge on Alistair Johnston, which Chris Sutton described as ‘wild.’
The former Celtic striker admitted that he wasn’t surprised by the call to show McGrath a straight red card after the intervention of VAR.
“Talk about shooting yourself in the foot,” said Sutton. “I mean, it was just out of nowhere, wasn’t it? He has had a good season, Jamie McGrath.
“But he has let his team down and his manager down on that occasion. Needless. Pointless.”
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Chris Sutton slams Jamie McGrath after red card against Celtic
Hibs should be used to these red cards because two of their players were shown a red card against Hearts last time out.
On top of that, Grant Hanley was sent off against Aberdeen previously and is still serving his suspension against the champions of Scotland.
But McGrath’s red card, which wasn’t originally given by on-field referee David Dickinson, saw little to no complaints from the Hibs players.
The issue with McGrath’s challenge is that the ball was running out of play for a throw-in, and as Sutton stated on Sky Sports Football (03/05/26), the tackle on Johnston, which was high, out of control and around his ankle area, ‘came out of nowhere.’
“It’s just a wild challenge,” said Sutton. “It hasn’t been that type of game. It has come out of nowhere. Alistair Johnston gets there first. It’s an easy decision, I think, this one, for the referee to make. You don’t need to look at that too many times.
“Talk about shooting yourself in the foot. I mean, it was just out of nowhere, wasn’t it? He has had a good season, Jamie McGrath.
“But he has let his team down and his manager down on that occasion. Needless. Pointless.”
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