Scottish referees urged to 'fix the madness' as claim made over four red card decisions

The Steelmen had both Oscar Priestman and Liam Gordon sent off in Wednesday’s 2-0 Scottish Gas Scottish Cup defeat by Aberdeen.

Priestman was unfortunate to slip and bring down Lyall Cameron in the second minute and Motherwell felt the ball might have been going through to goalkeeper Matty Connelly.

But Liam Gordon’s red card was more frustrating for the visitors after the defender brought down Toyosi Olusanya three yards inside his own half.

Referee John Beaton initially gave a yellow card but amended it following a VAR intervention, despite McGinn and Stephen O’Donnell tracking back from out wide.

When asked if he felt he was getting to Olusanya, McGinn said: “All day long. He’s got to run with the ball as well, which, if he beats me to that, then it’s time to hang up the boots, to be honest.

“It’s happened four times recently. It’s not an isolated incident. I watched (Falkirk defender) Liam Henderson get done. Never a red card. I watched the Dundee United boy (Iurie Iovu) the other night. Never a red card. And I don’t think the Celtic one (Auston Trusty) at Hearts is a red card either.

“So I don’t know what’s going on. But they (had) better fix it and fix it fast.

“You’d almost half understand it if the ref had given a split-second decision and then they’d thought ‘right, we’ll not overturn it’.

“I’m talking to all the Aberdeen players and they’re all agreeing it can’t be a red card.

“But we were a bit toothless around the box. So we’ll just look at that and then hopefully they can sort the madness that I’m seeing.”