JUST 90 MINUTES TO GLORY
CELTIC SEEK TO WRAP UP SCOTTISH PREMIERSHIP TITLE AT TYNECASTLE
TOMMY Wright, the St Johnstone manager, last night stated that Richard Foster and Danny Swanson will be disciplined in the toughest possible way after the duo were suspended by the club following a brawl during their encounter with Hamilton Academical at New Douglas Park yesterday.
The club confirmed that a “full and thorough” investigation into the matter will be launched after Foster and Swanson were embroiled in a furious altercation on the pitch at half time.
Both St Johnstone players were sent off while Hamilton coach, Guilaume Beuzelin, was sent to the stands after tempers flared around the mouth of the tunnel. Hamilton eventually went on to win the match against the nine men with an injury-time winner from Alex D’Acol.
Before the game, there was a disturbance outside the ground among rival sets of supporters and St Johnstone acted quickly to clarify misleading reports that the players had been interviewed by the police.
A club statement said: “Contrary to some reports, no player or member of staff has been spoken to or interviewed by Police Scotland.”
After a torrid afternoon, Wright said: “Until I see it, I can’t really comment but I have told the two players involved, in front of the rest, that the club will investigate it.
“I’ve heard what is alleged to have happened but until I investigate and see it with my own eyes, I can’t say any more. But they have been told that, if what happened is what is alleged to have happened, I will and the club will, come down on them as hard as we possibly can, legally. And we will. This will be dealt with in the strongest possibly we that we can.
“They [Foster and Swanson] have shaken hands. They have been really foolish and they are probably embarrassed. But to be sent off in that manner? You know sometimes it isn’t always about you, it’s about the bigger picture. Whether they had a grievance about what was happening on the pitch, that should have waited until the dressing-room.”
GOOD grief. This made Jim Duffy and Neil Lennon ’ s stooshie look like a minor disagreement between Jack and Vera outside the Rovers Return. The Saints became the sinners here at New Douglas Park amid flabbergasting and shameful scenes. The way Scottish football is going these days, the matches will soon have an undercard.
A terrible first half meandered to an uneventful conclusion and as the teams trudged off the pitch, all hell broke loose. The St Johnstone duo of Richard Foster and Danny Swanson started lashing and thrashing at each other in a violent, boggled-eyed frenzy while a series of skirmishes developed in the mouth of the tunnel. It was all very unedifying and the duelling duo face serious reprimands with Tommy Wright, the St Johnstone manager, promising the club will “come down on them as hard as we possibly can.”
Foster and Swanson were both sent off in the chaotic aftermath, as was Hamilton coach Guilaume Beuzelin, as St Johnstone played the entire second half with just nine men. After all the ill-discipline, the visitors were highly disciplined in their defensive approach after the resumption and almost held out as Hamilton’s desperate siege looked like it would go unrewarded. In the last knockings, though, Alex D’Acol, battered in a priceless, 90th-minute winner to lift Hamilton off the bottom of the table.
“I’ve never seen anything like this except on television,” added Wright, whose side at least secured a top-six spot. “In my day someone hit you in the dressing room and it stayed there. There was frustration from us in first half at not playing well and Danny and Richard had words before that. But I can sort that out in the dressing room but I didn’t get a chance to do that.”
A new month offers the chance of a new start and Hamilton were probably glad to see April birl round on to the calendar. To paraphrase Julius Caesar as he pored over the Scottish fitba’ scene, it had been very much a case of beware the sides of March. During the weeks prior to the international break, the Accies had lost 6-0 and 4-0 to Rangers while suffering another four-goal tanking at the hands of Hearts.
The hosts needed something to lift morale and they began sprightly enough here as Greg Docherty thumped in a drive from the edge of the box which Alan Mannus, the St Johnstone keeper, fisted down in front of him before the lingering menace was cleared.
And that, folks, was really that as a grim spectacle, featuring all the creative nous of a hand-cranked mangle, unfolded. At least the pitch battle at half-time stirred the hitherto numbed senses. For all the wrong reasons, of course.
Faced with this crippling, numerical disadvantage, St Johnstone had their backs against the wall but two sturdy lines of four produced a solid defensive redoubt which Hamilton struggled to penetrate.
Grant Gillespie forced Mannus into a leaping save, while Dougie Imrie blootered one over from close range and Ioannis Skondras shanked a golden opportunity wide of the mark. Mannus produced another fine stop from Ali Crawford on 86 minutes but D’Acol popped up right at the death to plunder the points on an astonishing afternoon.
“Myself and Boozy [Beuzelin] both said to the referee that is two red cards because it was a fight on the pitch and their players have taken exception to that and it turned into a big mess,” added Martin Canning, the Hamilton manager, of the half-time tumult. “We shouldn’t be seeing that on the pitch. For us, it’s a huge three points. I didn’t think the goal was going to come but we kept going.”
In my day someone hit you in the dressing room and it stayed there . . . I’ve never seen anything like it