Levein stands up for Flood
06 Aug 2007 - 12:25:22
Dundee United boss Craig Levein has defended loanee Willo Flood, who was sent off on his Terrors debut at the weekend.
Cardiff City winger Flood was dismissed shortly before half-time in the 1-0 victory over Aberdeen, being booked for a challenge on Jamie Smith, before going down under negligible contact from Jackie McNamara.
Levein told The Courier: "All the hype surrounding this diving and cheating thing has put an enormous pressure on the referee (Mike Tumilty).
"I have no problem with people who dive and cheat being sent off, but I knew that if a situation arose where a decision had to be made, with all the publicity there's been, there would be a sending-off.
"Willo is adamant he went down because he was off-balance and couldn't stay up."