Dundee Utd appeal Ciftci red card at Inverness

Dundee United have confirmed they will appeal against Nadir Ciftci’s red card in their bad-tempered League Cup defeat by Inverness.

Seeing red: Dundee Utd's Nadir Ciftci was sent off. Picture: SNS

Ciftci was shown a straight red card following a melee just before half-time in Tuesday night’s game, which was sparked by an incident involving Caley Thistle captain Richie Foran and Gary Mackay-Steven, who went down in front of the home dugout.

Referee Kevin Clancy also cautioned United pair Gavin Gunning and Paul Paton along with the home side’s Carl Tremarco while Inverness manager Terry Butcher was sent to the stands along with United first-team coach Darren Jackson.

The Tannadice club said on their official Twitter feed yesterday: “Manager confirms club will be appealing Nadir Ciftci’s dismissal for violent conduct last night.”

Ross Draper headed home a 120th-minute winner as Inverness progressed to the semi-finals with a 2-1 victory.

United defender Sean Dillon was clearly unhappy that the Mackay-Steven challenge had gone unpunished. “If the first incident had been dealt with straight away then I don’t think anything else would have happened afterwards,” he said.

“But I don’t know the full ins and outs of what happened. I didn’t see the incident, but whoever made the decision obviously did see enough in the pile-up.

“Nobody seemed to see what happened to Gary Mackay-Steven, even though it was right in front of them. I’m not going to have a pop at people. If they didn’t see it, they didn’t see it. Why they didn’t see it is the question I’d be asking.”

Dillon acknowledged that Caley Thistle’s physicality had played a part in United’s reaction, but refused to criticise the opposition. He felt the game changed with the red card for Ciftci, which came when United were leading 1-0 through a tremendous Keith Watson strike.

Dillon added: “There seemed to be a lot of disputing of decisions, whether throw-ins or free-kicks. [The Mackay-Steven incident] was probably one decision of many that hadn’t been agreed on. It wasn’t seen but we should have just got on with it.

“It doesn’t mean that everyone needs to pile in, but what happened happened. We need to move on and prepare for the weekend.

“The referee is his own man and makes his own decisions. I wouldn’t like to say he was influenced by them having a moan. It happens all the time that people disagree with referees. They have to make their own decisions. If that’s the way Inverness want to play, then fine.

“If we’re up against a team who are physical, I don’t have any issues with that.”