Hearts have appealed the red card shown to Kyle Lafferty in Saturday’s goalless draw with Aberdeen.
The Northern Irish international was shown a straight red by referee John Beaton with two minutes remaining after a late challenge on Dons captain Graeme Shinnie.
Hearts manager Craig Levein described the decision as harsh and the Jambos have since appealed the dismissal. Should they fail the striker will miss the Scottish Cup fourth round tie against Hibernian on Sunday, January 21.
Saturday’s goalless draw at Pittodrie made it a club record six consecutive matches without conceding a goal for the Jambos and defender John Souttar believes the new-found defensive resilience can give his club a platform to build from in 2018.
He said: “It’s a big achievement to keep six clean sheets in a row, the lads were delighted to do it. The Aberdeen game wasn’t the best but to go there and stop them scoring is a good result. We went down to 10 men towards the end and that has happened a few times this season but we showed once again we can battle.
“Obviously, you don’t want to be doing that but we know we can do it. It was tough at the start of the season, especially being away from Tynecastle. That is where we build things up and since we got back there we haven’t lost a game. Throughout the first part of the season we said we couldn’t wait to get back there and we are showing why.”
Souttar’s form has led to him being linked with a move to the Championship in England, with Derby County the latest club to be credited with an interest.
The former Dundee United player, however, insists he will not let the speculation affect him.
He said: “Hearts took me in when I wasn’t in the best of form and they have developed me. I am due them something back and also due the fans something back because they have been brilliant to me.
“The January window isn’t something I have thought about.”
