Aberdeen winger Jonny Hayes will be able to face Hamilton tonight despite his red card against Celtic, after he offered to pay for the club's appeal against the decision himself.

Hayes felt so strongly that referee Craig Thomson had got it wrong when he showed him a red card for his challenge on Mikael Lustig that he offered to stump up the £1000 fee for the appeal from his own pocket.

In the end he didn't have to as the club decided to lodge a formal appeal in any case, freeing the attacker up to face Accies at Pittodrie tonight as the Dons look to go five points clear at the top of the table.

His manager, Derek McInnes, said: "We are appealing the red card.

"He actually came to me and offered to pay the money for it himself. That's how sure he was that he shouldn't have been sent off.

"But we were going to appeal it anyway, that was always the club's intention.

"We are supporting Jonny because we feel that it was an injustice and of course I told him the club is paying.

"I don't even think it's a foul, he's won the ball. If you take the speed element out of it then every other aspect doesn't come into play under the rules.

"There was restraint, he went to ground early, won the ball and his foot was flat without his studs showing.

"To be fair to the ref, I can see why he made the decision because of the angle he was at.

"He would have been justified in thinking that the tackle was more than it was, but if he saw it from the other side he'd look at it differently. I hope common sense can prevail."