Scott Brown will be free to play against Rangers in Sunday's William Hill Scottish Cup semi-final at Hampden after Celtic confirmed that they will appeal the midfielder's red-card.

The Scotland internationalist was dimsissed for a lunge on Ross County player Liam Boyce, with a two-game suspension expected for the infringement. However, the bank holiday weekend will mean that an appeal will not be heard until April 27th given the necessary and legal framework of time constraints.

Even a fast-track hearing from the SFA means that nothing can be heard until after the semi-final takes place. A formal appeal will be lodged by Celtic with the SFA on Tuesday meaning that Brown will be allowed to play against Rangers at Hampden.

A penalty that never was - "blatant cheating" - was how Brendan Rodgers described Ross County's leveller, a goal which allowed the hosts totake a point after Alex Schalk took a clear dive in the box with Erik Sviatchenko pulling out of any challenge on the player. Boyce converted the kick to give County a share of the spoils.

Celtic's sense of grievance came to the fore immediately after. With four minutes of added time announced and Celtic chasing a winner, Brown took his revenge in the crudest way when he slid late into the player, prompting an angry melee with players from both sides squaring up to one another.

The decision to appeal will mean that Celtic have Brown available as the Parkhead club maintain their aspirations of claiming a domestic Treble for only the fourth time in the their history.

Kieran Tierney had given Celtic the opener with a cracker of a strike from the edge of the box that cut through a ruck of players before curling into the bottom corner after a stodgy opening period that saw Celtic with plenty of the ball but few genuine chances to show for it.

Having dominated the opening period almost entirely, Celtic would have expected to emerge for the restart ready to turn the screw on the Highlanders, only to get a surprise when Ross County showed a far more aggressive approach.

Michael Gardyne, who started his senior career in the youth ranks at Celtic, rose above Erik Sviatchenko to power a header off the underside of the bar to convert Ryan Dow’s header.

Celtic rang the changes with Cristian Gamboa, Leigh Griffiths and Patrick Roberts all entering the fray as the Parkhead side looked to re-assert themselves on proceedings.

It was the latter who restored Celtic’s advantage in a goal that had Brendan Rodgers off his feet in the technical area.

The on-loan winger’s deft footwork took him through a packed Ross County defence before he unleashed a low shot to beat Scott Fox in the County goal.

There was a sting in the tail, however, with the late penalty.