Dundee United boss Jackie McNamara last night said sorry to his players after their pre-season trip to Spain ended on a somewhat farcical note, writes Craig Smith.
United went down to their third straight friendly defeat, this time losing 3-1 to Spanish minnows CD San Roque.
But the result paled into insignificance compared to the over-zealous behaviour of referee Sergio Gonzalez Perez.
Both sides ended with 10 men in a bruising encounter at the Estadio Municipal Manolo Mesa, with United’s Paul Paton shown a straight red card just nine minutes into the second half.
It was a sour way to end what has been a hugely beneficial training trip to San Roque, and McNamara was disappointed the fixture was ruined by the official.
“It was farcical to be honest,” he said. “I was actually going to take the boys off in case anybody got hurt or got so frustrated they would lash out.
“I apologised to the players after it because I put the game on for them to get them a bit of training but, in hindsight, if I had known it would be like this I wouldn’t have done it.
“I didn’t take them off in the end because there would have been consequences, and we were trying to be professional.
“I thought the lads did that, but he sent one of our players off for telling a player to calm down, not speaking to the referee, but after there was a horrendous challenge on Sean Dillon who is just coming back from injury.
“There’s an element of trying to protect the players both physically and mentally, but I said to the players after it that I’ll take responsibility for putting the game on.”
United will need to check over the weekend whether Paton will serve a suspension for his red card, although McNamara hopes that will not be the case.
“I’ll need to check that he’s an actual official but I don’t know if it counts to be honest,” he added. “I don’t think it should but if it does, how do you appeal it?”
United are due to fly back home on Sunday and McNamara revealed he will make a decision on his three trialists, Jean-Yves Koue Niate, Graham Carey and Nadir Ciftci, when back on home soil.
For a full match report, see Saturday’s Courier or try our digital edition.