‘Never a red card’ – Tony Docherty fumes over Josh Mulligan dismissal

Posted Sunday, September 24, 2023 by PA

Tony Docherty insisted Josh Mulligan should never have been shown a straight red card in a pulsating cinch Premiership contest with Kilmarnock at Dens Park.

The game was locked at 1-1, after Amadou Bakayoko’s opener for the home side was cancelled out by a Daniel Armstrong penalty, when midfielder Mulligan was given his marching orders by referee David Munro for bringing down the Killie scorer.

After the break, it looked like Armstrong had secured the win for the visitors when he struck again late on but deep in stoppage time, home substitute Zak Rudden pounced to snatch a draw with Killie boss Derek McInnes also shown a red card.

Docherty was pleased with his team’s resilience to come from behind to snatch a point against his former long-time managerial partner’s team.

However, he was fuming over the Mulligan dismissal.

Docherty said: “I’m delighted with my team to come back from a game where you are 2-1 down, down to 10 men and nine minutes to go.

“I thought it was never a red card and I said that to the referee.

“Yes, it was a foul and a booking. It’s about consistency – if that’s the decision for that tackle then there should have been seven or eight red cards today.

“I thought we were harshly treated today but I don’t want to be talking about officials – I want to talk about my team and they showed resilience in absolute spades.”

Derek McInnes admitted he apologised to referee Munro after his “bizarre” red card at the end of the game.

The Killie boss was trying to get the ball back to his players but it had not gone out and the official dismissed him for entering the field of play without permission.

McInnes said: “I was convinced the ball was out and all I was trying to do was get the ball back to my player. I wasn’t trying to stop an attack, I wasn’t trying to be clever.

“The referee said he didn’t want to send me off but it is a technicality as I entered the field of play without permission.

“It was a bit bizarre, to be honest. I am convinced the ball was out but it spun back in. So I have apologised to the referee.”

While disappointed with the red card shown to him, McInnes was more frustrated that his team had not managed to see the game out against the 10 men of Dundee.

The manager added: “We said at half-time that it is not a given when teams go down to 10 men.

“We were just conscious of not giving up set-plays and for us to lose two set-plays, particularly the one at the death, is so disappointing.”