Kyle Lafferty faces a hefty three-match ban for his blatant act of simulation as SFA chief executive Gordon Smith yesterday vowed to rid the
Scottish game of cheating. Smith revealed to Sportsmail that the Hampden hierarchy have the power to repeat the same two-match punishment dished out to Hearts bad boy Saulius Mikoliunas by UEFA after he dived to earn a penalty against Scotland last season. But Sportsmail understands Lafferty has already been handed a one-match ban for the yellow card he did receive from referee Stuart Dougal for the initial challenge on Charlie Mulgrew during Saturday’s match against Aberdeen. Hefty ban: Kyle Lafferty faces a three-match ban for this dive last weekend That took him through the disciplinary points threshold and, with the other two-match ban for ‘improper conduct’ now odds-on to be ratified this summer, won’t be able to call upon the Northern Ireland international in the SPL until September. As the SFA prepare to look at the Lafferty incident tomorrow, with Celtic pair Glenn Loovens and Scott McDonald also on trial by a Video Review Panel, Smith flatly denied there is any Old Firm ‘witch-hunt’ at Hampden. ‘I am making a distinction for the retrospective punishment and that will carry a two-match ban,’ said Smith. ‘If you are caught diving at the time, you are a yellow card. ‘If you are not caught, and con the referee and the paying public, then you get a two-match ban. That’s already in our rules and can be implemented at any time. ‘My original plan on cheating and diving was to have the referee look at the whole match and then decide if there had been such incidents. But we have since decided that was too difficult to implement — there are just too many games and too many decisions for that to work. A fair system: Gordon Smith ‘I’m sure the Russell Duncan one (when the Caley Thistle midfielder went down clutching his face in a Scottish Cup tie against Falkirk) was reviewed but the referee saw it at the time and nobody was penalised by his actions. ‘Old Firm fans complain their players are the ones in the frame but we do not see that. I think it is a fair system for every club. ‘You will always be accused by supporters. Rangers fans will say their players are being framed by TV evidence and Celtic get away with it, while Celtic fans will say the opposite. We think it is fair.’
Should be cleared: Bougherra is expected to have his red card lifted tomorrow