No appeal to Foran's red card

by Graham Linton
Caley Thistle captain Richie Foran says the club is building a strong foundation for future progress, regardless of whether they achieve a top-six finish this season.
Caley Thistle will not be appealing the red card Richie Foran was shown against Hearts

TERRY Butcher is not going to appeal Richie Foran’s sending-off against Hearts, leaving the Caley Thistle boss short of central midfielders for Saturday’s visit of Celtic.

Inverness captain Foran will now be automatically banned ahead of the game against the reigning Scottish Premier League champions after being shown a straight red card by referee Bobby Madden for a challenge on Hearts player Ryan McGowan during the 2-2 draw between the two clubs at Tynecastle at the weekend.

With fellow central midfielder Owain Tudur Jones — dismissed against Kilmarnock in Caley Thistle’s previous home game against Kilmarnock — still to the serve the second of a two-game ban, Butcher finds his option for the forthcoming match with Celtic limited.

"I don’t think the referee will change his mind, so there’s no point appealing it," said Butcher.

"I know Richie is quite disappointed and it’s the one thing we didn’t want with Owain currently out through suspension as well.

"However, we move on. The referee has deemed Richie’s challenge to be dangerous play.

"I spoke to him at half-time on Saturday, but he wasn’t for changing his mind, so unless that happens we’re not appealing.

"With Richie now set for a ban, it’s going to make a bit more difficult in terms of who we bring in, but we’ll have a look at the squad and see what we’ve got.

"I was really happy on Saturday with the contribution all the subs made, so it shows that all the players are just desperate to get into the team."

Butcher confirmed he has "a bit of a casualty list" in the aftermath of Caley Thistle’s efforts at Tynecastle, but is confident he will have virtually a full squad to choose from for Celtic, with the exception of Foran and Tudur Jones.

"I need to see how the boys are," he said. "They played for 45 minutes against Hearts with 10-men in very warm conditions.

"It was a bit of a shift so we’ll not do too much in training today (Monday). Probably Thursday and Friday will be our main training days."

It was hard graft for Butcher and his players against Hearts, but not without reward.

Trailing by two goals and a man down at the interval, Caley Thistle staged a remarkable comeback with Andrew Shinnie’s penalty followed up by a last-gasp equaliser from young midfielder Conor Pepper, who came off the substitutes bench, to earn a well deserved point.

"At half-time we changed one or two things around tactically, but the main thing was we just needed everyone to work hard," said Butcher.

"It was going to go one way or the other. We either get ourselves back into the game, or we get hammered.

"However, the players didn’t chuck it in.

"They not only worked exceptionally hard, but also played some good football.

"We knew we had to push on, but you also cannot go helter skelter as a team like Hearts will just pick you off.

"However, I don’t think in the second half that Ryan Esson really as a save to make.

"All Hearts efforts seemed to come from outside the box, but we defended well and got a result that I can only describe as incredible."

The performance of referee Madden at Tynecastle certainly raised a few talking points when he gave Hearts and Caley Thistle a penalty apiece.

While Butcher felt unjustly treated when he pointed to the spot for a supposed shirt pull by Simon King on John Sutton, he believes the match official was correct in awarding Caley Thistle a penalty when Graeme Shinnie tumbled following a coming together with Callum Paterson.

"If you are going to give penalties like the one Hearts were awarded then you will get 20 penalties in every game," he said.

"It’s a nothing challenge, but the referee has already made his mind up to give a penalty.

"At the time, I thought the penalty we got was a bit soft, but having seen it again Graeme Shinnie does get caught and for me it’s a spot-kick."