Motherwell have confirmed that they have submitted an appeal against central defender Kofi Balmer’s red card, which he received on Saturday during his side’s 2-0 Premiership defeat away to Kilmarnock.
Balmer was sent off following a VAR intervention after a robust challenge on Kilmarnock’s Fraser Murray in the first half.
Referee Matthew MacDermid did not initially take any action against Balmer, but following advice from VAR official Andrew Dallas to review the incident, he changed his decision to a straight red card, judging the high follow-through post-challenge to warrant a dismissal.
No action, however, was taken against Kilmarnock forward Bruce Anderson, who appeared to shove Balmer to the ground with a forceful two-handed push.
Motherwell manager Michael Wimmer confirmed the appeal post-match, before the club’s official statement on their website today. He also claimed that the red card “killed” the match.
He said: “Today was really disappointing, and the game was killed after the red card. We were one down, and then we had no opportunities.
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"If I am honest, for me it was never a red card. He tried to clear the situation.
"I spoke before the game about how we should clear wide, so it was one swing — it was one movement.”
The German manager also called out what he perceives to be inconsistency in officiating, citing an incident from the Steelmen’s last match against Aberdeen and a tackle by the Dons’ Pape Habib Gueye on Andy Halliday.
He said: “If this was a red card, then last week in Aberdeen was a double red card against Andy.
“For me, the decision killed the game. But it was only 1-0, so we still had the chance to make it 1-1. We didn’t achieve that, so in the end we drive home with zero points.”
Things almost went from bad to worse when Dominic Thompson was also shown a straight red by MacDermid. But this time, Dallas on VAR came to Motherwell's rescue, advising that the decision be overturned.
Motherwell stated that the outcome of this appeal will be communicated in due course via their website.
They will hope to have Balmer back for their match at home to Hearts on Saturday, if their appeal is successful, as they look to steal sixth place from the Jambos in the final pre-split match.
