No referee complaints from Houston

26 September 2010 11:58
Dundee United boss Peter Houston refused to criticise referee Brian Winter for his apparent mistake in the 1-0 SPL home win over St Johnstone.[LNB] United's 1-0 win over their derby rivals on Saturday ended in controversy when Saints substitute Steven Anderson appeared to be booked for the second time in the match, for a challenge on David Goodwillie.[LNB]However, Winter did not brandish a red card and the Saints defender remained on the pitch for the closing stages.[LNB]Houston felt it was a genuine error, saying: "If it is a mistake from Brian, then it will be an honest mistake.[LNB]"I did not know at the time that Anderson was due to be sent off as there was a spate of bookings and I was concentrating on which of my players had been shown a yellow card.[LNB]"There was an incident where five players were booked at once and I believe now that Steven was the first player to be shown a yellow.[LNB]"Brian might have made a mistake by not making a note of that but these things happen. I hope he is dealt with leniently because he's an honest guy and we all make mistakes."[LNB]Houston has been delighted with the way his side responded to last week's 4-0 defeat to Rangers, with wins over Ross County in the Co-operative Insurance Cup and today's victory over Saints.[LNB]Houston explained: "It was a tough week with losing heavily at Rangers. After the game I asked them for two victories and we ground out a result at Ross County and won again today. I can't ask for any more from them."[LNB]St Johnstone manager Derek McInnes believed his side should have taken something from the match.[LNB]He said: "We are disappointed by the fact that we had a lot of possession and looked the more likely team but we lost our way a bit once they got in front.[LNB]"The game got scrappy with all the stoppages and that suits the team that is winning.[LNB]"We looked threatening but we never put the ball in the back of the net and that is something we will need to look at.[LNB]"It is not often you come to places like Tannadice and look as comfortable as we did for long spells. The game was there for us but we never took our chances."[LNB]Regarding the Anderson controversy, McInnes said: "I was only made aware when the fourth official said that he thought he had been booked for the first incident.[LNB]"It wasn't clear to me that he had been booked. I would have to see it again but we can get too bogged down on analysing these positions.[LNB]"The bottom line was we got beaten 1-0 and never did enough to get a result."

Source: Team_Talk