AJ:Daz denied memy hat-trick
A-JAY LEITCH-SMITH revealed he was overruled by Dundee skipper Darren O’Dea and robbed of the chance of netting a hat-trick on his home debut.
Leitch-Smith bagged a double in the 3-2 win over St Johnstone at Dens Park which handed Neil McCann’s side their first Premiership victory of the season.
In an eventful game on Tayside referee Alan Muir awarded three spot-kicks – two to Saints and one to the Dark Blues.
The Englishman was denied the chance to notch a treble from the spot on his first start for Dundee when he initially grabbed the ball after he had been fouled by St Johnstone defender Ricky Foster in the box.
However, O’Dea – who was sent off in the five-goal thriller – intervened and took the ball off LeitchSmith and handed it to his strike partner Soufien Moussa who duly scored to make it 3-1 to Dundee.
Leitch-Smith said: “I did want to take the penalty but there was no getting the ball off Moussa.
“I grabbed the ball initially but our captain O’Dea came over to me and asked me to pass it to him.
“I thought he was going to put it on the spot for me but he gave it to Moussa which was fair enough.
“It was a bit of a crazy game with three penalties awarded but thankfully we got the win.
“I can’t remember when I last scored a goal. It was probably last year before I got injured.
“When the new gaffer came in at Shrewsbury I scored four in six then I picked up the injury and was out for a while.
“I didn’t really get a sniff after that.”