Spotlight on Collum as Hearts win appeal

HEARTS star Callum Paterson’s red card against Hamilton has been rescinded after an SFA tribunal decided referee Willie Collum got it wrong. The official dismissed Paterson for a challenge on Darian MacKinnon in last Saturday’s meeting at New Douglas Park, with the Tynecastle side 2-1 in front. They eventually lost 3-2 which ended their 100-percent start to the Premiership. The decision angered Hearts manager Robbie Neilson, who claimed they had trained with a 10-man team ahead of the game because of Collum’s previous record of handing out red cards. The Tynecastle club submitted an appeal and Paterson will now avoid a ban after an independent panel downgraded his offence to a caution. The 20-year-old attended the Hampden hearing in the company of Neilson and director of football Craig Levein. Speaking after the match, Neilson had said: ‘I don’t think it is a sending-off. I’ve seen it already. For me, it is not a red, but the referee makes the decision. It is a

total game-changer. We end up trying to hang on for a draw and we don’t make it. ‘Certain referees will make decisions that another referee wouldn’t make. ‘This game, with the officials we were getting, we knew there was a high probability of a man being sent off.’ Collum, in Copenhagen to take charge of tonight’s Euro 2016 qualifier between Denmark and Albania, has had other dismissals overturned before. In January, red cards for Kenny McLean, then with St Mirren, and Motherwell star Stephen McManus were rescinded on the same day. Meanwhile, St Johnstone defender Brad McKay has been censured by the SFA for branding Hearts striker Juanma a ‘typical foreigner’ after the pair clashed during Saints’ 4-3 defeat at Tynecastle early last month.