Dundee United were last night celebrating after star striker Nadir Ciftci was cleared to play in Sunday's Scottish Cup showdown with Celtic.
Ciftci had been staring at the prospect of missing all three crunch clashes with the Hoops in the month of March after the SFA had served a notice of complaint regarding an alleged foul on opponent Garry Warren during last Tuesday's 1-1 draw with Inverness at Tannadice.
The SFA Compliance Officer had contacted the Tannadice club after reviewing footage of United's game against Inverness Caley Thistle on Tuesday and the Tangerines wasted no time in appealing the two-match ban which which allowed him to face Partick Thistle last weekend.
Ciftci had been accused of striking Warren "upon his neck or head with your arm"; while Warren was shown a red- card after clashing with Ciftci in the same incident.
But the case resulted in a not proven verdict to free up the former Portsmouth and NAC Breda man to face the Hoops in this weekend's crunch last-eight.
Already suspended for the League Cup final against Celtic on March 15 having picked up two bookings in the competition, Ciftci had been looking at missing Sunday's cup clash as well as the league meeting at Celtic Park on March 22 had the two-game ban stood.
But it's a massive boost for United gaffer Jackie McNamara who travelled to Hampden for yesterday's hearing along with Ciftci as they now bid to upset the odds and end their recent dip in fortunes - which has seen them lose three of their last four league outings - by securing a place in the semi-final.
McNamara admitted publicly prior to the hearing that he hadn't been holding out a lot of hope about having Ciftci available for the visit of Celtic.
Earlier this season, United midfielder Paul Paton lost his appeal and was handed a two-match ban for spitting on Jonny Hayes - despite the Aberdeen winger insisting the incident did not happen.
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