Dundee United boss Peter Houston says Robbie Neilson is ”absolutely distraught” about his red card against Celtic.
The former Hearts defender’s ordering off for using his arm in an aerial challenge with Georgios Samaras was the game-changing moment of Sunday’s Scottish Cup quarter-final. Neilson’s torment has been compounded by the fact he will now be suspended for United’s next two SPL matches against Rangers and Hibs, plus one Scottish Cup tie but his manager and team-mates are standing by him.
Houston said: ”Robbie was absolutely distraught at being sent off against Celtic. He’s an experienced guy who thought he could win the ball. There’s nothing malicious in Robbie Neilson. He’s not that type of player, but he did catch the Celtic player so it was a red card. He caught Samaras out of the corner of his eye in the last split-second and jumped to lever himself up.
”Robbie has been in the SPL for a long, long time. If you ask any player I don’t think there’s one who would come out and call him a malicious, dirty player. Yes, he caught him and deserved to get sent off, but it’s a one-off occasion.
”Robbie has been pivotal in our performances and keeping of clean sheets in recent matches. Although he made a mistake on Sunday, we certainly don’t hold it against him. None of the players hold it against him either. And he’s not been fined. We’re all in this together.
”He made a wrong judgment call and suffered for it and, at the end of the day we suffered for it as well. We move on, though, because we can’t look back.”
The important games for Europa League-chasing United keep coming.
Houston added: ”There’s still a lot to play for. We’ve got to now try to consolidate a top-six place. There were a lot of positives to take from the first half of the Celtic game. We were playing against a quality side so we can obviously learn from the defeat last Sunday.
”I can’t help but give our lads a lot of praise because if we can play like that against most other teams we’ll give ourselves a good chance.
”Rangers is a good game for us to hopefully bounce back in. There will be a big crowd with a decent atmosphere and it will be a very tough match. They might have a couple of players suspended like Bocanegra and Goian but it just gives others the chance to stake a claim.
”You never get it easy against the Old Firm. We need to go out and play like we did in the first-half hour against Celtic. And we also need to play like we did against Rangers when we beat them 2-0 in the cup at Ibrox.”
Houston revealed that fringe players Barry Douglas, Ryan Dow and Keith Watson have all been ”chapping my door to get a game.”
It’s been their misfortune that United have been in such good form of late, however.
He pointed out: ”It’s very difficult to change a team who’ve been doing so well. Keith was unlucky when he dipped a wee bit and I brought in Robbie Neilson who has done exceptionally well for the team.
”Paul Dixon has been one of our most consistent performers over the last five or six months, so Barry Douglas just hasn’t had a chance.
”I’m holding Ryan back a little bit just now but have said to him that if we can consolidate top six then he’ll get a shot before the end of the season, because he deserves it.
”Milos Lacny is another one. He’s looked sharp but Jon Daly and Johnny Russell are scoring most of our goals.”
Gavin Gunning is expected to be fit for Saturday’s match after having to be substituted with a sore back against Celtic.
Photo by Lynne Cameron/PA Wire