St Johnstone decide against appealing red card shown to midfielder Dan Phillips

dailyrecord.co.uk:

St Johnstone will not be appealing the red card shown to Dan Phillips on Saturday. The midfielder was initially given a yellow card by referee Craig Napier for a challenge on St Mirren’s Ryan Flynn but, after a VAR check, the punishment was upgraded to red.

Saints manager Callum Davidson said, following the match, that he was “really disappointed” with the decision. The Perth boss still feels Phillips should not have been ordered off but explained why there was to be no appeal on this occasion. “We have looked at it back several times and I still don’t think he was involved in a tackle or a challenge because he had the ball in his possession,” Davidson said. “He was trying to control it when Ryan Flynn came in from the side and at the time I didn’t think it was even a foul. “The still photograph made it look far worse than it was in real time. “But by the rules the referees have to follow these days, it would come under the bracket of endangering an opponent if we did challenge it. “I still don’t think it was a red card so it’s harsh on Dan that he’s going to miss this weekend’s game. “Again, for me, it’s another grey area we need to clarify with VAR because it was a football incident with no intent to hurt anyone. “There needs to be more differentiation between a football incident and dangerous play because at the moment the lines seem to be blurred.”