Dundee United manager Peter Houston resisted the temptation to fire a verbal volley at Robbie Neilson as the 10-man Tangerines were sent spinning out of the Scottish Cup.
The impact of Neilson’s ordering-off on the quarter-final tie against Celtic at Tannadice was huge. The Tangerines had been the better side and had been creating all the chances before Neilson led with his arm and caught Hoops striker Georgios Samaras as they went for an aerial ball after just 29 minutes.
Neilson had already been booked but that wasn’t even a factor as referee Iain Brines waved a straight red card to dismiss the experienced former Hearts man.
United had been in the driving seat but the match then made a U-turn as Celtic motored on to a 4-0 win thanks to goals from Joe Ledley, Samaras, Anthony Stokes and a late Scott Brown penalty.
Houston acknowledged the tie swung on that incident but decided not to have a real go at his player.
”I think it was the pivotal moment in the match,” said Houston. ”The thing that disappoints me is that we had started really well and were playing really well.
”The chances were coming from Dundee United rather than Celtic. We were playing the best team in Scotland, the champions-elect or whatever you want to call them, and we were in many ways on the front foot and dominating the game.
”Robbie had already had a yellow and it was a challenge inside the Celtic half that he didn’t need to go into. I haven’t seen it (a video replay) but people will argue that he jumped with his arm up. The referee deemed it to be a straight red and we just have to deal with that.”
Houston knows Neilson well, having coached him as a youth at Tynecastle, and insisted the offence was out of character.
”Robbie is a good lad and is not a dirty player in any way,” added the United gaffer. ”It is not like Robbie to be malicious or do that deliberately. I would stand by him on that because I have known him since he was 17 years of age.
”But I am sure when he looks at it again he will realise he should have used his experience and not gone into the challenge. He has probably been rash in thinking he could win the ball. If you are not 100% certain about it and are on a yellow then you don’t do it.
“He will be disappointed but we battle on regardless and don’t blame Robbie for us losing the game, even though it would have helped to be 11 versus 11.”
The manager added: ”He doesn’t need to (apologise). He has done brilliantly since he came here and the players are very much in it together. They will realise that sometimes these things happen and it happened today.”
Houston is backing his men to recover in good time for the weekend’s match against Rangers.
”My players worked extremely hard and I have been proud of the guys these last few of weeks,” he said. ”They have put in a lot of sterling performances.
”There are a lot of tired legs, because of the workrate today, but the attitude of the team is spot-on. I am disappointed because the scoreline looks like it was a trouncing. OK, it maybe ended up a trouncing but with 10 to 15 minutes to go we still felt we were in the match.”
United midfielder Scott Robertson also felt the tie was transformed by the ordering-off.
”We were putting Celtic under pressure and were well in the game but the red card changed that,” he said. ”Speaking to our keeper Dusan (Pernis) afterwards he said he didn’t really have a save to make but still lost four goals. So that just shows how they take their chances when they come along.
”I have not spoken to Robbie and I don’t know if he has spoken to any of the other boys. I don’t think anyone can say it wasn’t a red card, though.”
Houston revealed defender Gavin Gunning, who had to go off nursing a sore back, isn’t as badly hurt as first feared and should be OK for the match against Rangers.
Celtic will now play the winners of the St Mirren v Hearts replay in their semi-final, while in the other tie Aberdeen will take on Hibs.
Main photo by Lynne Cameron/PA Wire