PINT HALF FOOLISH
Dillon claims bad boy Kuate acted like a petulant drunk
SEAN DILLON tried to talk down raging team-mate Wato Kuate as he would a drunk on a Saturday night out.
It said everything about hothead Kuate who Dundee United boss Ray McKinnon insisted has played his last game for the club after attempting to scrap with his skipper and Mark Durnan during Thursday’s clash against Hamilton.
Kuate’s petulance in the Premiership play-off final first leg included sarcastic clapping and dubious gesturing to his own support when substituted.
While Dillon didn’t want to lay the boot into the 21-year-old, his peacekeeping efforts fell on deaf ears of a player acting as though he’d had a few pints too many.
He said: “You’re doing your best to speak to people and with Wato I wasn’t going down the road of roaring and shouting. It wasn’t going to help, so I tried to be calm.
“Sometimes it’s like somebody being on a night out, a few drinks and you can’t talk to them, so what do you do? You try to bite your tongue a little bit and get on with the situation and unfortunately for him he’s been taken off and he hasn’t reacted well to it.
“I touched his stomach. I just wanted to calm him down but what do you say? Emotions are high.
“He’s a young boy but I don’t agree with it. I didn’t like what was done and I’m not saying it’s okay to do that but emotions are high and we’ll see what happens.”
Dillon was the first to admit his own performance in the stalemate fell well short of his standards.
And he believes Kuate’s conduct, including refusing to shake hands with his replacement Charlie Telfer, was triggered by the realisation he was also having a shocker.
He said: “I’m not backing up what he did by no means. No matter how bad you are you go over and wish your team-mate the best of luck coming on for you, whether it’s after 80 minutes or after 20 minutes.
“I’ve had it myself getting taken off before half-time in a game. You’re angry, you’re upset, you’re embarrassed, but you can’t do that.
“Maybe we’ll have a chat and clear the air.
“I’m reluctant to hammer him. It’s frustrating. It’ll be frustrating for him I’m sure. From a personal point of view I thought I was lacking quality and I’d like to think if he’s being honest with himself he’d say the same.
“He’s probably a little bit upset with how he played and emotions got the better of him a bit but these
No matter how bad you are you go over and wish your team-mate best of luck SEAN DILLON
things happen. I would be reluctant to go over the top with him.
“I didn’t get to see much of him after the game. He was in the dressing room when we first went back in but we were sharp back out for a cool-down so I don’t really know what was said if anything was said afterwards.
“We’re all in it for the one thing and at the moment that one thing is promotion. That’s all we want.”
Another major flashpoint saw United striker Simon Murray sent off for two acts of simulation by referee Steven McLean, the second offence being a blatant penalty which should have had the whistler pointing to the spot rather than flashing a card.
The Tannadice hitman will be clear to play tomorrow as his club appeal the decision after footage showed he’d tumbled under clear contact by Accies defender Scott McMann. And Dillon refused to point a finger at the officials.
He said: “I didn’t know whether he got sent off for diving or giving out to the linesman because the ball had been cleared and I was on my way back.
“I actually asked the linesman. I wanted to know if it was given for a dive or because he had a go at him and he wouldn’t answer.
“Looking back on it now it’s obvious but it’s easy to look back.
“I wouldn’t go down the road of slaughtering the officials. These things happen. It’s a tough one to take from our point of view because we lost a player and a chance to score from a penalty but we have to review the whole game.
“When we look at it we’ll feel that hasn’t gone for us but we had chances in the game, so did they. It was an up and down game, a bit hectic at times.”
United will once again require the same strength of character they displayed against Falkirk in the semi-final to go away from home tomorrow and dig out a result but Dillon is adamant they’re more than capable.
He said: “We wanted to win the league but we didn’t. We were then going for second and didn’t do that, so now we’ve come through the two ties, four legs and a fifth one on Thursday.
“We’re one game away from getting promotion and, please God, we’ll do it.”