Dons boss: Grassi was threatened

But McGhee insisted the Italian should not have reacted to the provocation which almost cost his side a first victory at Tannadice for almost four years.Aberdeen bounced back from a hat-trick of SPL defeats to win 1-0 on Saturday courtesy of a 15th-minute goal from Charlie Mulgrew, the defender's fourth of the season.They were looking comfortable until the final half-hour after Grassi picked up their seventh red card of the season for lashing out at Andy Webster following a coming together with the United captain.McGhee claimed the home side provoked the Italian, who suffered a triple cheekbone fracture on his last visit to the city, September's Co-operative Insurance Cup quarter-final defeat at Dundee.McGhee, who insisted Webster should also have been sent off, said: "He was being threatened all afternoon that he was going to get his face smashed."He reacted and he shouldn't have."But I think the linesman on this side could have helped us because I think he got involved in it and it's him who told the referee what happened."I don't think - whatever he told the referee - that he told him the full story."We've had another player sent off and they've only had a player booked - I can't quite understand that."The former Dons striker added: "I used to tell people I was going to smash their face in."I used to come here and Heggy (Paul Hegarty) would tell me he was going to break my leg."It's part of the game so you don't react to it."You just wait for your chance and, when you get the chance, you smash their face!"Webster said he "ran into" Grassi, describing the coming together as "much ado about nothing".He also admitted there may have been some on-field "sledging" aimed at the Italian. "You get that everywhere you go in football," he said."Their fans at half-time were throwing snowballs at Nicky (Weaver) and talking to him."That's the mental side of it."United caretaker boss Peter Houston, who claimed he did not see the sending-off, said: "I would have liked some of our players to smash into people in the first half."I wouldn't mind a couple of characters like that."We haven't got anybody in the dressing room - I don't think - to go and tell people they're going to smash people's faces in."Today's result followed United's 7-1 midweek thrashing at Rangers."Players maybe felt sorry for themselves a wee bit from Wednesday night," said Houston, whose side twice hit the woodwork late on. "I thought we deserved to take something from the game from our second-half performance."However, I wasn't happy with our first-half performance."United have now taken just one point in three matches under Houston, who withdrew from the race to succeed Craig Levein this week.He hopes a permanent successor will be appointed before next Saturday's Active Nation Scottish Cup tie at Partick Thistle, claiming chairman Stephen Thompson had already begun interviewing candidates."In the next couple of days he is doing a couple and he's done one yesterday, I believe," Houston said."I think the best thing for the football club to get us back on a level keel again is to get the manager in."Houston also reiterated his desire to combine his coaching work at Tannadice with a role in Levein's Scotland set-up.He added: "That'll all depend on, A: who the new manager is, and B: will he give me the time off which is needed to go join up with them?"

Source: Team_Talk