Aberdeen striker Sam Cosgrove won't have his appeal against his red card against Celtic heard until 5.30pm on Christmas Eve.
The Dons top-scorer was shown a sent off for his tackle on Kris Ajer in Saturday's 2-1 defeat but manager Derek McInnes immediately announced he was challenging the call.
And the process has been fast-tracked as Aberdeen hope to have Cosgrove available to face Livingston on Saturday, with the SFA confirming that they will hear the appeal very late in the day.
Speaking in his press conference today, McInnes remains hopeful of getting the decision overturned.
He said: "I’m hopeful that we’ve a chance to right a wrong with Sam’s red card As I said, for me it’s never a red card.
"I’m not considering being without Sam on Thursday and hopefully common sense will prevail."
The Aberdeen manager had previously accused Ajer of play-acting to try and get his man dismissed.
"He's won the ball, the big boy Ajer's winking at Sam, he thinks he's done him over by just being too cute for him.
"The referee and the officials have got to be better than that.
"If the officials do their job properly they see he's won the ball cleanly and there's no contact on Ajer."
