Derek McInnes says he will take his punishment for reacting to bigots.
But the Aberdeen manager insists the offenders should also be punished for their part in the incident and that it was not only time referee Craig Thomson and fourth official Nick Walsh could have shown more understanding of situations.
McInnes was sent from the technical area for making a gesture in response to sectarian chanting aimed at him of “sad orange b*****d” from fans in the Celtic section.
The Reds gaffer was annoyed at himself for reacting, but also upset that scenarios weren’t taken into account both in that instance and also when Dominic Ball was red carded and assistant Tony Docherty sent to the technical area at half-time for disputing that particular decision.
McInnes said: “I shouldn’t react, I should be better than that.
“I let it go the first time. I didn’t the second time, but it’ll be interesting to see if everyone gets punished for me.
“I’ve heard the song hundreds of times sung at me and I haven’t reacted. I think the frustration of the game has played a part in that.
“The fourth official deemed my reaction a red card offence. If it is it is, I’ll take my punishment.
“The role of the fourth official sometimes is to give you a warning, a chance to let Craig Thomson know what I reacted to. But it fell on deaf ears.
“I don’t want to say anymore, it’s up to everyone else to say their bit.
“It’ll be in the delegates report, which is refreshing as it’s not always in their report when they hear sectarian singing.
“It certainly wasn’t in the last cup final. But that’s not my fight.
“It’s for others to condemn. For my part, I take responsibility for my own actions.
“But the game totally changed on the [Ball] sending-off. I thought it was extremely harsh.
“The first yellow card, one of the officials said it was for stopping a promising attack. Jonny [Hayes] had kicked the ball out of the pitch.
“It is a foul, 100 per cent, I’m not denying that, but I didn’t think it was a yellow card offence. It was Dom’s first foul in the game.
“The second one is difficult. When that ball bounces both players have got to go for it and it’s ended up with young Ryan having a bad injury.
“I think both players have to be committed to it. I don’t think there is an elbow or a flailing arm. It was late and I think it was totally accidental.
“I need to remind people about when [Dedryck] Boyata took Gary Mackay-Steven right out in the cup final not so long ago.
“That was deemed to be a reckless challenge, it was late, Gary ends up in hospital.
“Tony was sent off for acting in an irresponsible manner. I heard him at half-time. It wasn’t different to anything you’d hear on a Saturday. That was harsh as him. Four sendings off doesn’t look pretty.”
McInnes didn’t have any complaints with Lewis Ferguson’s red for a lunge on Tom Rogic and added: “I’m disappointed for my players and everyone at the club not to get to the next step.
“We felt in the opening period of the game we weren’t doing enough, we were a bit safe and a bit tame with our work, maybe understandably with so many younger ones in such a big game.
“The emphasis at half-time was going to be on the fact we had we had worked hard to get here and we had to give a bit more, but in that six minutes of injury time added for Gary being treated we lost a goal and we lost in the added injury time again.
“It was a brilliant finish by Forrest and we should defend the second goal better than we did before the penalty.
“It was going to be nigh on impossible to get a result from then on it and even worse when Ferguson got sent off.
“That is a red card. It was deserved, it’s something he needs to learn from, he’s allowed his frustration to get the better of him.
“It was a frustrating day for all of us. I’ve been sent-off as well for being frustrated.
“For that, I apologise and I’m wrong and I’ll take my punishment as will young Lewis. We’ll learn from it together.”
