(Photo by Paul Thomas/Getty Images)
Dundee United manager Thomas Courts was left frustrated by referee Gavin Duncan as his side were on the end of a 1-0 defeat by Livingston yesterday, claiming his decision to award Livi a penalty looked “very harsh”.
Duncan pointed to the spot when Andrew Shinnie went down in the box soon after coming off the bench, allowing Ayo Obileye to fire home and secure back-to-back wins for David Martindale’s side.
Courts wasn’t happy with the referee at full-time (Photo by Steve Welsh/Getty Images)
Courts thinks the ref gave a lot of “innocuous” fouls against his side and was left fuming after the final whistle as he took issue with the whistler’s performance at Tannadice.
“[The penalty] looked very harsh from where I was standing,” the Dundee United boss said.
“Jeando seemed to be in control and just seemed to go shoulder to shoulder with their player.
“Livi players are streetwise and the ref pointed to the spot.
“We seemed to be on the wrong end of a few 50/50 decision today which is frustrating.
“I’m not normally one to complain about refs but I thought there were a lot of innocuous coming together which went against us that affected our rhythm and it became quite frustrating for us.”
Livingston boss David Martindale, however, was “100 per cent” convinced Duncan made the right decision to award his side the 66th-minute penalty and claimed his side had a perfectly good goal disallowed.
While the referee was the centre of attention for both bosses, Martindale was full of praise for the way his side defended against the Arabs; goalscorer Obileye proving just as important at the back as he was from 12 yards out.
“The penalty’s a penalty, 100 per cent,” Martindale said.
“I thought Andrew Shinnie was clever and Scott Pittman did well too, so I think it’s a penalty. Maybe a bit soft, but you can’t go flying in the box and make body contact like that and not win the ball.
Martindale thinks the penalty decision was spot on(Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
“In fact, we scored a goal after it that they called offside and the boys were debating it. Apparently, it was onside, but I’ve not watched it back.
“I thought we defended with our lives. We were brilliant”.
NTOF now offers a YouTube channel featuring exclusive interviews, post-match discussion, in-depth debate, and much more – LIKE and SUBSCRIBE and don’t miss any of our videos.