Mccann: Saints keeper should have seen red
Dundee boss Neil Mccann was upset that St Mirren goalie Craig Samson wasn’t sent off during his side’s defeat in Paisley.
Samson was booked for pulling down Jean Mendy in the box, but then saved Sofien Moussa’s spot-kick.
Dundee were made to pay for that failure when their keeper Jack Hamilton blundered to gift the Buddies a late winner.
Mccann felt his side should have been playing against 10 men for the last half-hour.
Samson’s foul would previously have been an automatic sending- off, but a rule change means the keeper now stays on if he makes an attempt to play the ball.
Mccann said: “I don’t have a problem with the new rule because a triple punishment can be hard on teams.
“But it’s whether or not he makes a genuine attempt to get the ball.
“The keepers hedge their bets and, if they’re clever, they go low.
“In this case, he’s never getting the ball, so there’s no genuine attempt for me.
“I think the ball’s past him before he dives. That is not an attempt to get the ball – he’s cleaning out the player.
“He stays on the field and makes a good stop.
“Moussa’s not happy about that because he’s normally very good on penalties.”
Mccann was unhappy about starting the season with a defeat, but he was very careful not to criticise his goalkeeper too harshly.
He knows how bad Jack Hamilton will be feeling about being dispossessed near the end and being unable to stop the winner.
“I think we did enough for at least a point and we shouldn’t be throwing a w ay tha t p o i n t .” Mccann went on.
“It was just a bad decision by Jack.
“We encourage him to play the ball, but maybe that wasn’t the time to do it.
“I think his mind maybe just got a bit clouded and be paid a heavy penalty for it.
“We should have been ahead in the game before that.
“We created plenty of chances and when you don’t take them, that’s what can happen.
“Jack has apologised to the boys, but I’m not going to go through him b e c a u s e ma d e some good saves.
“I feel disappointed for the fans because they turned up in great numbers.”
Mccann explained the absence of Glen Kamara.
He said: “He took a knock on his ankle in training and just wasn’t right.
“There are some positives from this game, but it doesn’t feel like that when you get beaten right at the end.”