Dundee manager John Brown went down with all guns blazing as he branded Aberdeen player Peter Pawlett a cheat and a diver for his role in the penalty that cost the Dark Blues their SPL status.
With 69 minutes on the clock and the home side hanging on to the 1-0 advantage given them by Jim McAlister’s first-half strike, Pawlett moved into the penalty area.
Across came Lewis Toshney to challenge and the Dons midfielder went flying into the air after appearing to anticipate the tackle for Toshney beforew it was even made.
Referee Alan Muir pointed to the spot and Niall McGinn stepped up to score his 20th goal of the season. That final 1-1 scoreline meant the Dens men are relegated to the First Division.
To make matters worse, Brown felt his team should have had a spot-kick themselves when McAlister was barged into by Isaac Osbourne earlier in the game.
It was all too much for Bomber, who sent some explosive words in the direction of both match official Muir and Pawlett.
He said: “(We have) a referee that can go to his work on a Monday morning and can sleep well tonight.
“This is our livelihoods. It has been taken out of our hands. It is a shocking decision for the penalty kick. That has taken us down. That decision has taken us down and it’s a disgrace.
“It is the worst thing I have ever seen. He can’t get it right.
“That is where you think (about) technology. For 30 seconds, whether it’s a sending off or other key moments, you could stop the game when players are down faking injury or whatever.
“But they can’t bring in that technology and it’s a disgrace. I can’t ask any more from my players. They have been fantastic.
“Out of nine games (under his charge) they have gone eight undefeated four wins, four draws and only one defeat.”
“They deserved another crack at it but that was taken from us today,” said Brown.
“He (Toshney) has gone out and stood his ground and the guy (Pawlett) just dives two-footed. If anything, it must have been a booking for him rather than a penalty kick.
“I also thought that was a stonewall penalty in the first half. Look at it on the highlights and you will see that one was a penalty and the other wasn’t.
“I am disappointed for all the fans. You expect officials to do their job and it makes a mockery of it. I haven’t really criticised the player (Pawlett) yet but to take a dive he should be ashamed of himself.
“But, there you go. How many cheats are there in the game?”
Brown has been winding up St Mirren in recent weeks but it is the Buddies who now have the last laugh, having made it over the line…just.
“So St Mirren survive and they didn’t use the ‘R’ word (relegation) so congratulations to their manager Danny Lennon. But we frightened a right few teams.
“If it is to be the First Division, then if I can keep the majority of this squad then we will be making a good fist of it.”
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