The television coverage of Willo Floods “dive” against Aberdeen are inconclusive…..
There might have been contact between the midfielder and the chasing Jackie McNamara, but it was a very bold decision by referee Mike Tumilty to show the on-loan Cardiff City player his 2nd yellow card.
Flood was initially booked in the 32nd minute for tripping Aberdeen’s Jamie Smith, in a challenge described by Setanta commentators as a ‘professional foul’.
But, Levein and Noel Hunt have both spoken out in Flood’s defence, by claiming the midfielder slipped before Jamie Smith clattered into him.
Then, just 10minutes later, Flood saw red after he went to ground after passing McNamara around 15 yards outside the Aberdeen penalty area.
However, whether it was or it wasn’t a dive, the rest of the Dundee United squad are fully behind Flood after his sending off against Jimmy Calderwood’s side.
“I don’t think it was a sending off to be fair, but these things happen and we worked our socks off to get the result,” admitted United striker Noel Hunt to Sporting Life.
“Willo’s ankle is up like a balloon where someone has had a swipe at him, so I don’t see how it was a booking.”
“Willo can’t believe what has happened and even for his first booking he slipped before the ball has even come near him.”
“Their boy just fell over and it was unlucky, then the second one was even worse.”
Manager Craig Levein also agreed with Noel Hunt’s view of the incident.
“I’ve seen a lot of Willo Flood and I have never considered him to be someone who would go down,” Levein told the Courier.
“In fact, he’s more likely to try to stay on his feet.”
“Willo said to me after the match that he wasn’t brought down, but that Jackie McNamara has put his leg in front of him and as he was already off balance he went over it.”
Fortunately, 10-man Dundee United still battled on right to the end and not only kept Aberdeen at bay, but even managed to score a late winner.
Youngster David Robertson intercepted a weak header from Andrew Considine back to his keeper, and blasted the ball high into the top corner of the net to secure a 1-0 win for Dundee United.
