Dundee United defender Coll Donaldson has revealed the confusion that surrounded his substitution at Hampden.
Donaldson had gone down injured during the second half of the William Hill Scottish Cup semi-final against Hibs, only to play on after receiving treatment.
However, his hamstring and ankle both finally succumbed on 74 minutes and it was game over for the young centre-back.
His replacement was Guy Demel but, unfortunately, he wasn’t ready to come on.
The United bench needed a few minutes more to get Demel prepared and clearly wanted Donaldson to take his time in coming off the park.
However, Donaldson had already been booked in the game and received a warning from referee John Beaton that he would be receiving another yellow card then a red for time-wasting should he not hurry up and get off.
With Demel still not primed to come on when Donaldosn reached the technical area, the muddle left United a man down as play resumed.
Donaldson got an earful from his own coaching staff when he reached the dugout but it appears that he had actually done the team a favour by saving them from being reduced to 10 men for the rest of the game rather than just a minute or two.
The player explained: “I went down and the ref asked: ‘Are you able to walk off?’
“Maybe I should have said ‘no’ but I said ‘yes.’
“So I started walking off and was walking slowly and the ref said: ‘Hurry up or I’ll book you.’
“I had already been booked so I’m thinking that I don’t want to get sent off. I tried to explain it to him (manager Mixu Paatelainen) and he shouted at me louder.
“I spoke to him after and it has been dealt with. I was thinking of the team. My hamstring was tightening up and I didn’t want to be the reason Hibs scored because I couldn’t run back quickly enough.
“I had to come off but hopefully I will be fit for next week.”
Paatelainen, for his part, said: “I wanted Donaldson to go down and get treatment. Our replacement player wasn’t ready and I wanted to have 11 men on the pitch.
“I think he has an ankle knock, but he could have a muscle injury as well. Hopefully, it’s not too bad because he’s a good defender.”
Donaldson had to look on helplessly as his teammates lost 4-2 on penalties after the game finished goalless.
He said: “It was a toss of the coin really in the shootout. We were pretty solid in open play so to lose how we did was hard.”
As well as the substitution shenanigans, Donaldson felt hard done by when he got a penalty awarded against him in the first half, only for Jason Cummings to chip the ball over the United bar.
He added: “You are going to argue about every penalty if it’s given against you but it hit my head and then my hand.
“I was quite close to the guy (Fraser Fyvie), too, and not even looking at the ball. My eyes were shut.
“The ref called it but he hasn’t cost us the game – the penalty shootout did.”
