Dundee manager Gary Bowyer has blasted referee Peter Stuart and his assistants, branding their performance in the Dens Park clash with Inverness the ‘worst I’ve ever seen’.
The Dark Blues lost out 3-2 in the entertaining Championship clash with a brace from Cameron Harper and Billy Mckay penalty cancelling out a Robbie Deas own goal and a Joe Grayson tap in.
The ref was involved in a number of key moments – the first of which was to deny the home side a penalty in the opening moments.
Mckay appeared to stop Zach Robinson’s shot on the line with his arm. Despite protests from a number of Dundee players, Peter Stuart was uninterested.
Bowyer slams referee
As the first half came to a close, he awarded Caley Thistle a penalty after Harry Sharp was judged to have brought down Harper – one of many decisions which irked the Dee boss.
“I have to say the performance the officials today was, probably, the worst I have ever seen in my footballing career – both as a player and as manager,” he said.
“The lad (Billy Mckay) saved it with his hand. He said to our lads that he handled it.
“Then the penalty? He couldn’t give that quick enough.
“He hadn’t consulted his linesman who had the better view on this side.
“I’ve just tried to speak to him there and… wow.
“In England you are allowed to speak to the officials with the observer there.
“The observer wasn’t there and it’s something I will take up because I wanted to talk about his performance.”
Bad to worse for Dundee
Dundee’s afternoon was made worse when skipper Ryan Sweeney was sent off in his first game since returning from a suspension.
Bowyer believes the defender’s second yellow came about after an incident where one of his player’s was fouled.
“It’s a free kick right on Tyler French right in front of the linesman,” he said.
“They break and Ryan’s stood his ground.
“I thought Delaney was clever, he got the free-kick. The ref then decides that’s a yellow card and sends him off.”
Despite the performance of the officials, the Dee boss believed his side could have done more to get something from the match.
“I’m amazed we haven’t won the game – never mind drawn the game,” he said.
“We’ve conceded three goals which is disappointing from our point of view. Two are wonder strikers from the lad, fair play, and a penalty. That’s not great.
“We created numerous chances where we need to be more clinical.”
Inverness reaction
Inverness boss Billy Dodds was delighted with his side’s performance and to come away with all the points from a thrilling encounter.
“The game had everything – it was 100 miles an hour,” he said.
“It had a lot of good technical things in it and a lot of incidents and for a neutral it must have been great to watch.
“Gary Bowyer has a really good team and they put us under real pressure in the second half.
“But we had a chance to increase our lead at the start of the second half and that would have made it a bit easier. We knew Dundee would come at us for the equaliser and we had to dig in for long periods.
“We hit them for the third goal and we managed the game well, especially when their man got sent off.”
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