Pars keeper insists Hippolyte ‘clearly conned’ referee

Dunfermline keeper Sean Murdoch is adamant Falkirk’s Myles Hippolyte was guilty of a dive in Saturday’s derby and should face SFA action.

With Dunfermline leading 1-0 eight minutes into the second half, the Bairns were awarded a controversial penalty when Murdoch was accused by referee Gavin Duncan of upending Hippolyte.

Video footage shows Murdoch palming the ball away for a corner before the Bairns attacker somersaulted over the keeper’s challenge.

Murdoch was booked for his protests at Duncan’s decision and could be seen remonstrating with the stand-side linesman Stuart Stevenson – assistant to Don Robertson when the officials missed Alex Schalk’s dive in winning a penalty for Ross County against Celtic two weekends ago.

And the frustrated former Hamilton Accies and Hibs player insists the incident should not now be swept under the carpet.

He said: “The video of the incident has been viewed thousands and thousands and thousands of times on social media.

“I think we can all clearly see it’s a dive. There’s no contact at all and I clearly win the ball. There’s no doubt in my head.

“When I saw the referee giving a penalty kick I was in full rage and probably went a wee bit over the top.

“But it was such a poor decision and for it to happen in a game of that magnitude is really frustrating.

“You don’t want to call people cheats and things like that but the player has clearly, clearly conned the ref,” he said.

“It’s a combination of a few really poor things – the player, the referee and the assistant.”

He added: “There’s been a lot said about the referee. I’ve never had Gavin Duncan before but I think the game was a little bit too big for him.”