Tommy Wright bemoans penalty decision as St Johnstone draw with Aberdeen

Posted Sunday, September 15, 2019 by PA

St Johnstone boss Tommy Wright was frustrated with the reversed penalty decision that denied his side a second-half spot-kick but left Pittodrie happy with a point.

The home side had taken the lead through Ryan Hedges’ powerful strike but Saints levelled through a low Michael O’Halloran strike from the edge of the area just before the interval.

The visitors built on that and looked the more likely until Steven McLean pointed to the spot following an Andrew Considine challenge on Matty Kennedy, only to reverse the decision after consulting his assistant.

Wright, speaking after the 1-1 draw, said: “(Aberdeen boss) Derek (McInnes) has told me there’s no touch, but I don’t know how he can be sure of that. I think there’s contact, but to be fair Matty has bounced straight up.

“I think the referee is best placed to make the decision because his positioning is good and he’s got a good view. It’s not often they are overturned, and Derek will think it’s the right decision.

“I think we could have had one just after when Murray Davidson is pushed, and you can tell by Sam Cosgrove’s reaction that he’s worried.

“I’d rather be talking about the performance because, even taking the penalties out of it, I thought we deserved more from the game.”

As Wright had predicted, McInnes felt the overturned decision was the correct choice, stating: “It was the right decision. We don’t need VAR, we just need a good linesman.

“I couldn’t believe the penalty was given and they’ve clearly got to the right decision in time.

“I think the referee knew right away that he’d got it wrong and the linesman confirmed it.”

The Dons boss was disappointed with his side’s performance, though, adding: “I’m disappointed from a winning position that we haven’t gone on to win the game.

“We were dominant in our play and we should have gone on to win the game.

“The type of goal we lost wasn’t good enough, and at half-time we spoke about having the confidence to deal with the game as we’d got ourselves into that position.

“We lost our way. We were too rushed, too hurried. We didn’t get our good players doing enough for us, and I think St Johnstone were the team who looked more assured.

“I think they were worthy of their point and I don’t think we did enough to win all three.”