St Johnstone boss Tommy Wright last night hit back at Dundee manager Neil McCann as the war of words between the pair intensified.
Speaking earlier in the day, McCann accused Wright of personally “putting a complaint against me” regarding the incident that followed the Perth men’s 4-0 defeat of the Dark Blues at Dens Park last Saturday.
McCann then declared he would be at Hampden on March 29 to argue his case against the SFA charge of “excessive misconduct” aimed at both him and Saints goalkeeper Zander Clark.
Wright, who took charge of St Johnstone’s 1-1 draw against Hibs at McDiarmid Park last night, accused McCann of trying to deflect blame away from himself.
Asked about the intervention accusation, Wright replied: “That’s definitely not true.
“I think Neil should reflect on those comments.
“I spoke to the referee after the game – I didn’t speak to anyone from the SFA.
“I never made a complaint. I didn’t say Neil McCann has to be done over this.
“Unless Tony McGlennan (the SFA compliance officer) had gone to Mars over the weekend people would have been cited.
“I think it’s another way of trying to apportion the blame onto someone else.
“If people want to misconstrue the truth let them do it. But factually that’s not true.
“I can’t discuss the charges because the process has to take place.”
As for the game, Chris Kane rescued a point against 10-man Hibs, who lost keeper Ofir Marciano to a red card after just 14 minutes.
Wright said: “We gave a poor goal away and didn’t do enough to stop the cross.
“It was pretty even after that and then came the sending-off. I haven’t seen it back but I don’t think there were too many complaints.
“I thought Hibs defended well and we had to change things in order to get back into the game.
“We did get back into it and I think we deserved that.”
Hibs gaffer Neil Lennon, meanwhile, felt Saints were lucky to keep all their men on the park and highlighted one challenge from Blair Alston on John McGinn that earned the home player a booking.
Lennon, who is serving a touchline ban, said: “It’s a good job I was in the stand because I don’t understand how St Johnstone ended the game with 11 men.
“I know our red card was a red. I have no argument with that.
“But some of the challenges on my players in the second half were shocking – disgraceful tackles. We did not get enough protection.
“It (Alston’s foul) is a red card all day long. There was no attempt to play the ball.
“It was reckless and endangered John’s well-being. It’s horrific.”
