ByDavid CurrieBBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter<\/p>\n
Interim manager Martin O'Neill is "disappointed" the Scottish FA fast-track panel rejected Celtic's appeal against Auston Trusty's red card on Sunday.<\/p>\n
The United States centre-half brought down Heart of Midlothian striker Pierre Landry Kabore on Sunday and was was initially shown a yellow card by referee Steven McLean.<\/p>\n
The video assistant referee advised an on-field review and McLean deemed Trusty had denied a goalscoring opportunity, so upgraded the yellow card to red.<\/p>\n
Hearts then equalised to earn a draw that maintained their six-point lead over the defending champions in the Scottish Premiership.<\/p>\n
The decision of the officials was backed by the SFA's fast-track tribunal on Tuesday, and Trusty will be suspended for this weekend's game against Falkirk.<\/p>\n
Celtic said they "will be ensuring further discussions with the SFA" as they "seek to understand the rationale for this and other decisions".<\/p>\n
O'Neill, who insisted after the game he "did not see" how it could be a red card, said on Wednesday that "it was nice to get the backing of a lot of referees who've refereed big, big matches when they were interviewed afterwards".<\/p>\n
"I never had a problem with it in my first spell here 25 years ago, never had a problem at all with it all – I just expected no decisions to come our way!" joked the 73-year-old when asked about the standard of refereeing in Scotland.<\/p>\n
"I have a lot of paranoia about me. I'm seeing a shrink at the moment it. I'm perfectly all right… but he's not."<\/p>\n
O'Neill, in interim charge for a second period this season, conceded that Celtic "obviously need to strengthen the squad" before the winter transfer window closes.<\/p>\n
"It's what we are trying to do. Whether we have anyone in before the weekend I don't know, but we are making strenuous efforts," he added.<\/p>\n
"I think we can do something, the days are pressing but I'm hopeful. I'm reasonably confident we can do it.<\/p>\n
"If we get through in the Europa League there are at least a couple of games, and you need a proper squad for that.<\/p>\n
"We're trying to get as much quality as possible. Lots of names have been put forward – lots of people I've taken and interest in, one or two have been thwarted. But we're working on it."<\/p>\n
Celtic seek answers after losing Trusty red card appeal<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n
Hearts 'rattle' Celtic – but did red card play 'massive part'?<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n
Celtic face Utrecht at home in the Europa League knowing a win would seal a place in the knockout rounds.<\/p>\n
Celtic have eight points and are in 24th in the table, the last play-off spot, and face 34th-place Utrecht in their final match.<\/p>\n
A draw would not be enough to progress if Ludogorets, Feyernood and Basel won, while Steaua Bucharest and Go Ahead Eagles could also finish above Celtic with handsome wins.<\/p>\n
If Celtic lose, Ludogorets would just need a draw to leapfrog Celtic because of their superior goal difference.<\/p>\n
"We've put ourselves in this position. We have to win, it's as simple as that," said O'Neill, who confirmed Kelechi Iheanacho trained on Wednesday and is available for selection.<\/p>\n
"If we do, then we get through – but it's not as easy as that. Despite their recent record, these boys can play. I've had a look at them.<\/p>\n
"They are a very decent side who come here with nothing to concern themselves – just coming to enjoy themselves, and that's dangerous.<\/p>\n
"It would be nice to get through to a knockout stage. The more European matches you play, you learn something."<\/p>\n
Visit our Celtic page for all the latest news, analysis and fan views<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/li>\n
Get Celtic news notifications in the BBC Sport app<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n
O'Neill dismay over Trusty but hopeful on signingsImage source, SNSImage caption, O'Neill will be without Trusty for Sunday's game at home to FalkirkByDavid CurrieBBC Sport Scotland Sen…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":7896,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-decor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7895"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7895\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}