Barr wins his appeal over sending off

FALKIRK defender Darren Barr has won his appeal against the red card he was shown at Tynecastle last weekend.

The 21-year-old was sent off by referee Steven Conroy after a confrontation with Hearts striker Andrius Velicka.

However, the Scottish Football Association's review panel has reduced the offence to a caution.

Barr is now free to face Kilmarnock tomorrow but his booking takes him over 18 disciplinary points and he misses the Motherwell clash on February 10.

A statement from the SFA said: "The Review Panel was assisted in its deliberations by the referee, Steve Conroy, who, after studying the video evidence, confirmed that there had been no contact between Barr and the Heart of Midlothian player Andrius Velicka.

"At the time, he had considered that Barr had thrust his head towards Velicka in an attempt to head-butt him and thus decided to send him off for violent conduct.

"The referee none the less still regarded Barr's actions as aggressive and as a result conveyed his view that a caution should have resulted rather than a sending off."

Barr, furious with the reaction from Velicka, who fell to the ground after the incident, said: "I was surprised when he went down like that and the only thing I can think is it must have looked bad from the ref's angle."

Taken from the Scotsman