Dundee striker Greg Stewart has vowed to never dive again after suffering the agony of being banned.
Stewart had never seen a red card in his career until one was waved in his face by referee during the Dark Blues’ 2-0 defeat to St Johnstone .
The frontman was guilty of simulation after he was “challenged” by Saints defender Frazer Wright and the decision wasn’t contested by either the player or his club.
Indeed, Stewart apologised to his teammates at full-time for leaving them in the lurch.
He also missed the 5-0 loss to Celtic last Friday because of suspension but returns for today’s home clash with Inverness Caley Thistle.
He has vowed never to go through that again.
“It was a split-second decision,” said Stewart.
“I just saw the tackle come in from the side and I was trying to ride the challenge.
“That was the first sending-off of my career as well so it wasn’t nice to get the red card.
“I got what I deserved though.
“It’s not like me to do something like that.
“I apologised to the lads and the gaffer because we were getting beaten 1-0 at the time so it was already going to be hard enough to get back into the game without my ordering-off.
“That gave the team a mountain to climb and St Johnstone then went and got another goal.
“So I held my hand up in the dressing room afterwards and said sorry.
“I will try never to do it again because it’s not what I’m about.
“I had just been nominated for player of the year, too, so it was a bad end to a good week for me.
“What I want to do is put it out of my mind and move on.
“It is bad enough to miss a game through injury but to rule yourself out is really disappointing.
“As a player you want to play at the biggest stadiums and Celtic Park is one of them.
“So to miss that game was a kick in the teeth but I deserved it.”
The Highlanders can secure third spot and a Europa League spot with victory at Dens this afternoon and Stewart would love to ruin their planned party.
He said: “Inverness have done really well this season – sitting third in the league and in the Scottish Cup final so hopefully their minds are elsewhere and we can take the three points.
“But we know they have the incentive of qualifying for Europe if they win and they will also have lads desperate to get into the cup final team.
“So it will be another difficult game against a really good side that can pass the ball about.
“I don’t think we have beaten them this season so hopefully we are due one.
“All our boys want to play for pride and win every game we can.
“I suppose the last few performances haven’t been good enough but we want to finish on a high.
“We don’t want what has been a great season to fizzle out in the final weeks.”