Tommy Wright unhappy with officials after St Johnstone lose at Dundee
St Johnstone boss Tommy Wright was left frustrated with the performance of the referee after seeing his side go down 3-2 at Dundee.
Last updated 17th Sep 2017
St Johnstone boss Tommy Wright was left frustrated with the performance of the referee after seeing his side go down 3-2 at Dundee.
Wright's side suffered their first league defeat of the season at Dens Park after going 2-0 down before a chaotic final 10 minutes saw three penalties awarded and a red card shown to Dundee's Darren O'Dea.
Liam Craig scored twice from the spot, but A-Jay Leitch-Smith (twice) and Sofien Moussa netted for the hosts as they claimed their first win of the campaign.
However Saints could have been level at 2-2 but for referee Alan Muir's decision to rule out a header from Steven Anderson, and Wright was left fuming after Dundee were awarded a penalty moments later.
He said: “There's no way you can hide from the fact the game changes on two big decisions.
“All Ando (Anderson) has done is get up early before his defender, and if he's up early, it's not a foul.
“He hasn't used his arms to push down on the player. And to compound it, to go up the pitch and give a penalty for that is beyond me.”
He added: “I went to see him and he said it's body contact, but he won the ball, it doesn't add up.
“The first penalty for us is a penalty. O'Dea was getting away with pulling all day, at least he had the character to give that.
“But take away the refereeing decisions, we gave away two terrible goals and that's what cost us the game.”
Neil McCann admitted it had been a mad finish and was relieved to be awarded a spot kick after Leitch-Smith was brought down moments after the Anderson header.
“It was a crazy 10 minutes,” he said. “I think the first one is clear cut with Bainy (goalkeeper Scott Bain) coming out and taking him out for a penalty.
“I wasn't really sure about A-Jay's, whether it was contact in the box or not. I was screaming for it, we got it and I'm delighted.
“The one with Ando and Darren - I don't really know what went on but I think when you're warned, the referee is on edge and something can tip it over.
“We could have easily had a free kick but they had a penalty, it makes it difficult.