Jackie McNamara wants referee to be consistent

DUNDEE United manager Jackie McNamara has called for referee Calum Murray to show consistency in tonight’s crunch Scottish Cup quarter-final replay with Celtic as the fall-out from last Sunday continues.
Sean Dillon was sent off during Sunday's League Cup Final. Picture: SNSSean Dillon was sent off during Sunday's League Cup Final. Picture: SNS
Sean Dillon was sent off during Sunday's League Cup Final. Picture: SNS

McNamara takes his cup hopefuls to the home of the champions seeking to make amends after seeing his his ten-man side – who had skipper Sean Dillon sent-off – lose the League Cup final 2-0 to Ronny Deila’s men.

Referee Bobby Madden elected to send-off Dillon for a tackle on Emilio Izaguirre in a game-changing moment while United felt they should have had a penalty when Ryan Dow went down inside the box following a first-half challenge from Scott Brown.

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Now McNamara, whose side’s season could rest on their next two games with Celtic including Saturday’s Premiership clash, wants to see any signs of inconsistency ironed out for tonight’s big game as Murray prepares to take charge. He said: “I wouldn’t say the ref wasn’t strong just inconsistent with certain things.

Sean Dillon was sent off during Sunday's League Cup Final. Picture: SNSSean Dillon was sent off during Sunday's League Cup Final. Picture: SNS
Sean Dillon was sent off during Sunday's League Cup Final. Picture: SNS

“Ryan Dow went through and got taken out on the edge of the box – there was nothing given apart from a free-kick.

“Also on the other side, when Izaguirre comes in, it was just a free-kick whereas we got a few bookings and I didn’t see much difference.

“I think consistency with decisions is all you are looking for. No one is looking for any favours or something which isn’t there.

“If it’s a foul, it’s a foul regardless of what’s happened the week before. It’s the same going into this game. The most important thing for me is we’ve shown over the past couple of games is the need to keep 11 men on the pitch.

‘There was a costly period when Sean Dillon was getting stitched up – that took eight minutes to get done – although to be fair it was a bad gash.

“We tried to put Blair Spittal on a couple of times because it took such a long time and it proved costly for us.”

United are nursing a sense of injustice from the events of last weekend but McNamara insists they must keep clam heads. He said: “From our point of view, we’re not happy with certain things and that hasn’t changed.

“But it’s important that we keep our discipline.”

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McNamara admits he’ll be having a quiet word with striker Nadir Ciftci to ensure he doesn’t get caught up in any flashpoints having missed the League Cup final through suspension. He said: “Yes – I’ll be speaking to him. It’s like any other game, he’s just goit to keep the head and make sure he’s using his aggression and passion in the right way and not get involved in anything.”

United duo Sean Dillon and Paul Dixon are both suspended while Mario Bilate is out injured.

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