Relieved Skondras says his five-game ban is ‘fair’
HAMILTON defender Ioannis Skondras has escaped with a five-match ban for his part in a shocking melee during which he appeared to throw punches at two Ross County players and manhandle rookie referee Gavin Duncan.
Sportsmail understands the defender was spared a heftier punishment because the SFA’s independent disciplinary tribunal accepted he had no intention of hurting the match official, who was taking charge of his first Ladbrokes Premiership clash. Skondras, 27, was shown a straight red card for violent conduct following an angry confrontation between players from both teams towards the end of Accies’ 3-2 win over County at the Superseal Stadium last month. The Greek, who was also seen grappling with the referee while trying to make his way back towards the fray, was subsequently charged with ‘excessive misconduct’. Skondras, who yesterday described the penalty as ‘fair’ and admitted ‘the panel were kind to me,’ has already served two matches of his ban and will now miss Accies’ next two games against Motherwell and Hearts. He will serve a further one-match suspension if charged again this season. Skondras added: ‘I didn’t even see it was the referee behind me. Straight away I said sorry and he accepted it.’ Accies, who had already been warned about their conduct following an incident at Tynecastle, were fined £2,500 and Ross County £2,000 for failing to control their players. Former referee Charlie Richmond told
Sportsmail that Skondras’ ban was ‘consistent’ with other punishments for similar offences down the years. He said: ‘This punishment would appear to be in line with previous bans for similar offences so, from that point of view, there is no issue. ‘You could ask the question of whether it’s enough — but, if that had happened in my game and the player had received a five-game ban, I’d be happy with that. ‘The player is clearly all het up. In that situation, they don’t really think. ‘Gavin (referee Duncan) has probably manhandled a few players to get in there and break things up. And it’s not as if the player has tried to punch him. ‘It’s the natural instinct to want to get in there, break it up and protect players — sometimes from themselves. Gavin will learn from that.’