Dundee United manager Jackie McNamara pointed the finger of blame at ref Craig Thomson after Paul Paton was sent off in an apparent case of mistaken identity during a stormy 1-1 draw with Celtic in the Scottish Cup . Paton was astonished to be shown a red card along with Virgil van Dijk after the Dutchman and Calum Butcher clashed on the ground following a poor tackle by Celtic captain Scott Brown on Nadir Ciftci – who appeared to kick Brown ’ s head in retaliation . McNamara vowed to appeal in a bid to clear Paton for next Sunday ’ s League Cup final against Ronny Deila ’ s men at Hampden , and it remains to be seen whether SFA compliance officer Tony McGlennan will take retrospective action against Butcher , Ciftci or Brown , with TV pictures indicating they could all have seen red . Dundee United manager Jackie McNamara was n't impressed with referee Craig Thomson 's performance . Paul Paton was sent off in an apparent case of mistaken identity during a stormy 1-1 draw with Celtic . But the United boss claimed that , had the match official sent off Brown for the initial challenge , the ensuing melee and embarrassing card blunder would have been avoided . ‘ I think we will be appealing , ’ said McNamara , whose team were reduced to nine men in the second half when Paul Dixon was sent off for handling the ball in the box . ‘ Paul Paton feels a bit hard done to for being sent off for nothing . He wasn ’ t even involved in the incident . But I think the ref should have dealt with the original bad challenge ( from Brown ) that sparked the whole thing off . But that went unnoticed . It was a two-footed challenge off the deck . It was a bad onebut it didn ’ t get dealt with properly . ‘ We should be talking about the football rather than the ugly scenes . But , for me , the officials should have dealt with it first and we would not have had the problems we had today. ’ Asked if he expects Brown to be hit with disciplinary action from the SFA , McNamara replied : ‘ No comment. ’ Ciftci scored United ’ s opener on the stroke of half time after Aiden Connolly appeared to go down easily in the box , with Celtic boss Deila later insisting the player should be punished for diving . Three minutes after the break , United ’ s Dixon was dismissed for blocking a goal-bound drive by Leigh Griffiths but the striker ’ s penalty was saved by keeper Radoslaw Cierzniak . Thomson ended up sending three players off , and United will appeal the red card of Paton . Griffiths had the last laugh , however , with a headed equaliser in the 71st minute to take the match to a replay at Parkhead on March 18 . Ciftci was lucky to still be on the park after kicking out at Brown but McNamara claimed not to have seen the incident . ‘ I need to see it . I haven ’ t looked back at the TV footage . And when Nadir gets tackled by Brown , the ball breaks and Butcher wins the challenge to put us through and I was looking at that next bit of play . I did not see what happened with van Dijk , Butcher or anyone else . I actually didn ’ t know the ref had got the wrong man until Paton came over and told me . It was a melee but the ref did not deal with the original bad challenge which sparked it all off. ’ McNamara , whose side will now face Celtic four times in March , also defended young striker Connolly . ‘ I don ’ t think he dived , ’ he said . ‘ I think he ( Anthony Stokes ) has caught him although he hasn ’ t caught him on the leg . It might have been soft but it was a penalty. ’ McNamara had no complaints about the spot-kick award and red card when Dixon handled a shot by Griffiths . ‘ Rules are rules but Rado made a great save . He didn ’ t deserve to lose a goal today . But we switched off for one moment and Griffiths peels off and scores a header . ‘ We can take certain things from today ’ s game but Celtic will be saying the same . Cool heads will be needed for the final next week . The disciplinary side needs to be better . ‘ It ’ s a chance for silverware and for the lads to create a bit of history . Will I be sick of the sight of Celtic by the end of our four games this month ? Not if we beat them . ’
Paul Paton was sent off in a case of mistaken identity . Dundee United 's Jackie McNamara had tangled with Celtic 's Virgil van Dijk . Calum Butcher vowed to appeal the sending off to clear Paton 's name .