Kris Boyd blasts Celtic no red card, as Sky Sports humour doesn’t wash with Rangers guy

The former Kilmarnock striker believed Reo Hatate should have earned his marching orders for a late lunge.

Kris Boyd was not amused as he criticised the decision not to send off Celtic’s Reo Hatate at Rugby Park.

The former Rangers and Kilmarnock striker was a Sky Sports pundit as he watched the Hoops defeat Killie 2-0 in Ayrshire. But he wasn’t happy when discussing one of the game’s major talking points, midfielder Hatate’s escape from a red card for a late tackle on Liam Donnelly.

The Japanese playmaker was booked by ref Nick Walsh after catching Donnelly on the knee with his studs late in the second-half. VAR Don Robertson examined the incident but eventually decided there was no need for Walsh to take further action. Killie boss Derek McInnes admitted post-match that he felt the yellow card was justifiable, saying: “When it goes to VAR, I’m sure the pictures didn’t look good, but in terms of force, I’m not sure it was a red card, to be honest.”

However, that opinion was not shared in the studio as fizzing. Boyd accused Walsh and Robertson of making a serious error. He raged, “It’s a red card. It is a red card. It is a red card. All day long.

“You can’t catch a player that far up a leg and turn round and say sorry and hope to get away with it. He catches him below the knee. Just below the knee. It’s impossible not to get sent off there. So the referee gets it wrong on the pitch and Don Robertson gets it wrong in the VAR room. That’s a red card all day long.”