Kilmarnock manager Derek McInnes said referee Matthew MacDermid was persuaded by a more experienced official in the VAR room to change Brad Lyons’ yellow card to a red card after an “unnecessary” intervention in the 2-0 defeat at Aberdeen.
The former Dons manager believes his team’s involvement in the Conference League qualifiers contributed to the three consecutive defeats that have left his side bottom of the Scottish Premiership table, although he admits three red cards had a greater impact.
Lyons was sent off early in the second half for a foul on Aberdeen striker Ester Sokler when the visitors were 1-0 down.
“I’ve just spoken to the referee – he was convinced it was a yellow card, but he saw it from two or three different angles and came to the conclusion that maybe it was a red card,” McInnes told BBC Scotland.
“I don’t think he should have been brought here. He’s not high and he’s not a threat to any opponent.”
“That’s not what the managers were told. That unless it was a clear and obvious error, VAR would not intervene, but I don’t think that’s the case.”
“I don’t know if it’s because there’s a more experienced referee in the VAR room and the referee might start to have doubts.”
Nevertheless, McInnes felt that Aberdeen deserved the win.
“I thought Aberdeen were better than us in the first 20-25 minutes,” he added. “We positioned ourselves in a way that allowed us to compete in the middle of the pitch.”
“In hindsight, I think we were better when we played with two strikers. Bringing in little Bruce helped us and I think we finished the first half as the better team.
“We lost the game by two free headers, which is not like us at all. The game changes again when we are down to ten men and it’s all about plugging gaps, similar to what happened against Motherwell or St. Johnstone.”
“We have to take responsibility for that. We’ve never had a discipline problem at the club, but three red cards in the last three weeks at domestic level is extremely disappointing given everything else we have to deal with.”
