Stephen Thompson, the Dundee United chairman, has welcomed the success of Nadir Ciftci in the opening two phases of his Scottish Football Association appeal but insisted that nothing could undo the damage of his club being knocked out of the Scottish League Cup.

Ciftci had faced a suspension of up to 16 games for his role in a brawl when United went out of the cup to Inverness Caledonian Thistle last month. The 21-year-old Turk has still to face the most significant charge against him, namely that he grabbed assistant referee Gavin Harris by the throat. That has left him facing an excessive misconduct charge; that case will be heard on November 21.

However, Ciftci appeared at the SFA's Hampden offices yesterday, along with Jackie McNamara, the United manager, club director Derek Robertson and a legal representative, and that delegation left with some success. Ciftci had claimed wrongful dismissal for violent conduct and that appeal was upheld, with the card downgraded to a yellow. He had also been charged with grabbing an opponent, Graeme Shinnie, by the face and adopting a threatening and/or aggressive attitude. That charge was found to be unproven.

The length of the potential ban, and United's vehement defence of their player, has resulted in Ciftci's case becoming highly controversial. United had claimed that the club's own footage of the incident showed Ciftci was innocent of the serious allegations he faced. But last night Thompson was pleased that the first two cases had been processed without serious punishment.

"I don't want to say much because there is obviously one charge to be heard and I don't want to pre-empt what comes out of that," he said. "But we are pleased that the first one has been downgraded to a yellow and the second one is not proven. There has been a lot of time involved in this, particularly for Jackie. We had a lawyer there as well today and one of my directors. Unfortunately, we are still out of the cup. But we can't change that so we move on."

The sense of injustice does remain around Tannadice, though. Ciftci was sent-off in the 42nd minute of the tie and, although United hung on against Inverness, their 10-men eventually conceded a winning goal in the final minute of extra-time. Yesterday's outcome confirmed they should have not have had to play a man down, albeit the charge of manhandling the assistant referee could result in a conflicting outcome.

"I suppose the SFA would say that it [yesterday's appeal outcome] proves the system works," Thompson went on. "At least you get a chance to state your case and people listen to that case. Myself and many others have been critical of various things but this proves that the system has worked. It was a fair hearing and we can't say any more than that."

As McNamara returned to Tayside yesterday, assistant Simon Donnelly echoed Thompson's satisfaction and relief with the SFA's decision and also praised Ciftci for not allowing the furore around the issue to impact on his recent form. Ciftci played very well in United's 1-1 draw at Celtic Park last Saturday.

"There is some more to it that can hopefully get resolved over the next couple of weeks, but obviously we're delighted with the initial outcome," said Donnelly. "So far, so good. To be honest, it is what we hoped for because we had looked at the footage again and, from our point of view, we didn't think he'd done too much. I think we would have liked the whole thing to be resolved today, but for whatever reason they look at every incident on its own merit. That's probably the only disappointment from today, it's going to be ongoing for another two weeks before we get the next bit.

"We stood by the player. We looked at the footage ourselves; we have our own footage here. The type of boy he is, we didn't think he had done a lot on the night. You see a few of our staff trying to get our players away from the situation and, looking back on it, it was much ado about nothing."

Ciftci, who is close to a first call-up for the Turkey international squad, has made a significant impression in his early months with United having been recommended to McNamara and Donnelly by their former Celtic team-mate Pierre van Hooijdonk, who watched him playing for NAC Breda in Holland last season.

"Nadir has been fantastic, he really has," said Donnelly. "I think he is on seven goals, he's become a fans' favourite so quickly. His physique and his look, you could mistake him for 31 . . . He won't thank me for saying that. But he's still a young boy. He has potential, he's strong and quick, he can see a pass and he has a great strike on him. We've got high hopes for him."

Meanwhile in a separate case heard by the SFA, Liam Craig of Hibernian was unsuccessful in his attempt to avoid a two-game ban for kicking or attempting to kick Hearts midfielder Ryan Stevenson in the clubs' League Cup quarter-final.