Furious Tony Docherty has called for “accountability” over referee Grant Irvine’s decision to send off Mo Sylla before Dundee suffered an incredible late collapse to lose at home to Kilmarnock.
The Dark Blues were 1-0 to the good thanks to Ziyad Larkeche’s opening goal and deserving of their lead heading towards the break.
The clash turned on a second yellow card for Sylla on 43 minutes. And, despite leading 2-0 thanks to Seun Adewumi’s lob, Dundee would lose the game 3-2 after conceding three goals in the final nine minutes of play.
The red card decision, however, baffled the Dundee boss, who also questioned the appointment of the official after not awarding the Dark Blues a penalty at Ross County.
“I’ve got to say that the game was massively affected by a decision by the referee again,” Docherty said.
“The referee that we had previous weeks that again had made a decision, a wrong decision up at Ross County which was concurred by the supervisor.
“I felt we were so dominant and in control, the game absolutely changes on that moment.
“There has to be accountability for me.
“I’ve watched it back so many times.
“For the life of me. I can’t see why.
“First of all I think the referee’s line of vision is impaired by Lyall Cameron, but he’s really quick to get his cards out.
“When I look at it back there is no intent by Mo Sylla. He actually doesn’t see Matty Kennedy at all.
“There was no intent, no recklessness and it should not result in a red card, which massively affected the game.
“I’ve got to say, I will accept responsibility absolutely for my team’s capitulation at the end there.
“I will accept that and I’ll work on it and I’ll try and make things better.
“But when there’s things that you’re not in control of and that being a pivotal moment in the game, then that’s where the huge frustration comes in.”
Pivotal moment
The match hinged on Mo Sylla’s red card on 43 minutes.
Until that point, Dundee were very much on top and deserved their half-time lead.
Larkeche was bright down the left flank and opened the scoring with a fine finish.
Lyall Cameron set it up with a lovely disguised pass before the Frenchman found the inside of the far post.
On the half-hour mark, referee Irvine called over Mo Sylla and showed him the yellow card for an earlier clash with Killie striker Kyle Vassell.
The official was increasingly frustrating the home fans but the dissent from the stands was turned up to 11 when Sylla saw red.
An innocuous-looking challenge between Sylla and Matty Kennedy saw both players sprawled on the ground.
Immediately Irvine had his yellow and red cards out, motioning that Sylla had caught Kennedy with the elbow. With that Dundee were down to 10 men.
Because it was a yellow card, VAR could not intervene.
Attack v defence
After dominating the first half, the second became a defensive display.
Dundee, though, stood up to the Killie onslaught – a Bruce Anderson drive off the post aside.
And looked like they’d grabbed a vital win as subs Seb Palmer-Houlden and Seun Adewumi combined before the Austrian lobbed a brilliant finish over Robby McCrorie to make it 2-0.
That was on 81 minutes.
At this point, it’s “almost the perfect 10-man performance” for Docherty.
“We soaked up pressure, we defended well and hit on the counter,” the Dundee boss added.
“It was a brilliant goal from Seun, who is such a talented boy.
“The endeavour and work rate was there.
“We got the goal on 81 minutes and that should be it. The game should be done, we should win 2-0.
“But we make individual mistakes after that and now we are doing the post-mortem on how did we lose that game?”
Dundee went 2-0 up on 81 minutes.
On 86, Kilmarnock got their lifeline as a Kennedy shot squirmed under Jon McCracken.
On 88, Dundee’s frailty in defence cropped up again as Anderson nodded in at the far post.
And deep into injury time, the collapse was complete as Bobby Wales turned inside the area and laid it on a plate for Kennedy.
Maturity needed
Even more frustrating for Docherty was the quality of his team’s defending in the closing minutes as they threw away three points to suffer a fourth straight defeat.
He added: “I genuinely feel in the last three home games we should have taken maximum points.
“We are showing a level of performance that should be picking up points but the reality is we are not.
“I need to take responsibility, the players need to take responsibility.
“We need to show more maturity to see games out.
“We concede in the 86th minute and it’s a mistake. They score 88th minute because we allow a cross in and don’t defend the back post.
“Then the winning goal there is a huge mistake in that as well.
“I’m hugely frustrated.”
Teams
Dundee (3-5-2): McCracken, Portales, C Robertson, Koumetio, Ingram (Astley 89), Larkeche, Sylla, Cameron, Tiffoney (Adewumi 66), Main (Fraser 46), Murray (Palmer-Houlden 66).
Subs not used: Carson, Mulligan, F Robertson, Braybrooke, Vetro.
Kilmarnock (3-5-2): McCrorie, Ndaba, Mayo (Burroughs 76), Deas, Lyons, Vassell (Wales 85), Kennedy, Armstrong (Mackay-Steven 76), Watson (McKenzie 63), Donnelly (Anderson 63), Watkins.
Subs not used: O’Hara, Murray, Cameron, Bainbridge.
Referee: Grant Irvine
VAR: Alan Muir
Attendance: 5,316
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