91Èȱ¬

John Hughes slammed the two red cards dished out to Inverness in their 5-0 Scottish Cup quarter-final defeat by Dundee United.

Referee Willie Collum ordered off both Greg Tansey and Marley Watkins, while Graeme Shinnie conceded a penalty as United ran riot in the Highlands.

"I don't know. I don't know what the rules are these days," Hughes told 91Èȱ¬ Scotland.

"It's disappointing, but that's not the reason why we lost the football match."

Poor defending from Inverness gifted Nadir Ciftci an early double, before Gavin Gunning scored from the penalty spot.

After Tansey was dismissed, United continued their dominance into the second-half with Gary Mackay-Steven and Stuart Armstrong both finding the net before Watkins also saw red.

And Hughes said: "Did Tansey go over the ball? No. Did Marley Watkins go over the ball? No. Have I seen guys go over the ball? No.

"Marley Watkins has put his studs on the back of the ball. Tansey's led with his studs but his foot's on the back of the ball, he's trying to do no damage.

"If you see the first one, it's actually the Dundee United boy that kicked the sole of his foot, so it's disappointing.

"Give credit where it's due - Dundee United were good and they deserved it, but we made it easy for them."

It is the second week in a row Inverness have conceded five goals, and Hughes admits he has his work cut out to get the confidence up before next Sunday's League Cup final with Aberdeen.

"First and foremost you're never going to win a football match if you concede the goals we conceded," he said. "As I said last week, it's very uncharacteristic of us.

"I felt the first two goals were self-inflicted, we could have defended them better and before you know it you're chasing the game.

"The third one's a penalty. I've seen them given, no complaints about that. With the sending off you're up against it and it's damage limitation after that.

"It's easy to pass the ball when you're playing against nine men and that was the case. I didn't see them cutting us open when we were 11.

"To win a football match of this importance, of this magnitude, you have to be solid and resolute, and we weren't that.

"I like to think I've got strong characters that are hurting. They always say in football the next game can't come quick enough so hopefully that'll be the case against Hibs on Wednesday."