Dundee United midfielder Chris Erskine has revealed he has forgiven Nadir Ciftci for playing keep-ball at Tannadice on Saturday.
The big Turk seemed to forget he had teammates at times during United’s 3-1 win over Kilmarnock, choosing all too often to go solo when a pass to a pal would have been the better option.
The worst case came on 35 minutes when, had he played the ball back to Erskine his colleague would almost certainly have scored.
That earned Ciftci a torrent of criticism from Erskine at the time but the former Partick Thistle player had claimed he was quick to forgive.
Reminded that he fair let fly with a verbal volley, Erskine said: “Ach I know I did, aye, but I soon forgot about it.
“It’s just that I thought he should have played it back to me.
“The gaffer, however, thought I maybe should have held on to it a bit longer initially and committed the defender.
“It’s just one of those things in football.
“And that can be a good thing about Nadir because you see how well he did last year.
“Sometimes he maybe just tries a bit too hard.
“But he is a great player and a brilliant asset to the club.
“So I forgave him right away and told him that at half-time.
“I also thought after it happened that as long as we win the game it will be all right.
“I agree, though, that a couple of times we made the wrong decisions.
“We created enough chances to win a couple of games so that’s something we need to work on.”
The victory got the Tangerines back on track after losing to Motherwell in the league before the break and sets them up nicely for the return trip to Fir Park in the Scottish Cup this Saturday.
“It was important to get back to winning ways and it could have been more comfortable than it was,” said Erskine.
“If you consider the whole game we were the better team by far.
“We had plenty of chances in the first half and maybe could have been out of sight.
“Now we need to be consistent.
“The only way you are going to stay near the top of the table is by winning games every week.
“Celtic do that each year, just grind out results, and we need to strive to do the same.
“There are so many teams at the same level in our league that only by being consistent will you stay up there.
“If we can play the way we did against Kilmarnock then I am sure we can pick up points most weeks.
“Also, hopefully we can take this form into the cup-tie and come away from Fir Park with the right result.”
Ciftci is suspended for that game, while fellow frontman Mario Bilate is sidelined with a hamstring injury.
That limits manager Jackie McNamara’s attacking options considerably, with Ryan Dow, who came on as a sub against Killie, likely to lead the line.
Erskine added: “I don’t know what the gaffer will decide but we do have Dowser to play up there.
“If, as looks likely, we are without Mario as well as Nadir then that will be a big loss.
“We have strength in the squad, though, and you can see that in the performance of the likes of Stuart Armstrong, who I thought was brilliant against Kilmarnock.”