It was an eventful afternoon for Keith Watson on his return to old club Dundee United on Saturday – and he has revealed he was left ‘shocked’ to have played such a central role in Raith Rovers’ defeat.
The defender started on the bench, was called into action midway through the first-half and then gave away the spot-kick that killed off the visitors’ hopes late on in the 2-0 defeat at Tannadice.
It was a decision that appeared extremely harsh on the centre-half, who simply appeared to have held his position in the box as a cross from Ross Docherty looked like sailing to safety.
And Watson has pleaded his innocence following referee Nick Walsh’s ruling that he had, in fact, hauled down Louis Moult to gift the striker the chance to double United’s lead 15 minutes from time.
“For the penalty, I just got tight with Moult but I wasn’t actually grabbing him at all, my hands were out,” explained Watson. “I thought I defended it well and then the ref blew his whistle.
“I was shocked, I was like, ‘what?’.
“Then I went up and spoke to him and said, ‘listen, I’ve not actually held him, I’ve just stood my ground’. But he said he thought I was holding him.
“I saw it back after the game and that showed me I was right in what I was thinking and it wasn’t a penalty. It’s a sore one to take.
Watson: ‘It’s a poor one’
“If it’s 1-0 we’ve always got a chance. I know we didn’t create a lot but you never know what can happen.
“But he gave the penalty and we’ve not got VAR in the Championship, so there’s not a lot we can do.
“It’s a poor one, but we need to move on. Sometimes it goes for you and sometimes it doesn’t. It’s not gone for us and it’s disappointing.”
Watson was thrust into his first appearance for Raith in four weeks following a groin injury picked up early in the 3-2 defeat to Arbroath on March 1.
Disappointed not to start against United, the 34-year-old was introduced after Euan Murray sustained concussion after being caught by Moult’s high boot.
By that stage, the Tangerines were already a goal to the good after Tony Watt latched onto a Moult flick-on to expertly hook in an excellent finish.
It was a difficult first-half thereafter for Rovers and Watson has confessed the Stark’s Park men struggled to get their usual game going against determined hosts.
“We’re obviously really disappointed with the result,” he added. “We worked hard and we battled well.
“But we didn’t test their defence or their goalkeeper enough throughout the game.
“Dundee United defended really well and we didn’t really get our flair players on the ball, guys like Dylan Easton, Sam Stanton, Lewis Vaughan, Josh Mullin.
‘Difficult to take’
“They nullified us quite a lot. We didn’t create an awful lot, and that’s not like us. With the players we’ve got in that area up high we usually create a lot of chances.
“But it wasn’t to be and it was a difficult one to take.”
Now four points adrift but with a game in hand, Raith retain belief they can still overhaul United at the top of the table and land a dream title triumph.
If they are to enact another dramatic twist in a rollercoaster Championship battle, however, Watson acknowledges Rovers need a big week coming up as they host Ayr United, Airdrie and Partick Thistle in the space of seven days.
“We’re back on our own patch with games Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday,” he went on. “They’re going to be difficult games because they all are in this league.
“We’ll take the Ayr game first and then we’ve obviously got Airdrie in midweek, which is going to be really difficult.
“But we need to take care of ourselves and if we can win the next two then it’ll be down to a point again – if United do what they need to do at their end.
“So, it’s still all to play for and I think there’ll still be some twists and turns to come in the last five or six games.
“We’re not done yet. We’ll be back in on Monday and get a good week’s training and be raring to go for Ayr next week.”
