Monday 16 March 2015 15:31, UK
Dundee United defender Ryan McGowan has defended captain Sean Dillon after his sending off in the Scottish League Cup final defeat to Celtic.
The Hoops overcame Jackie McNamara's men 2-0 at Hampden Park with Dillon off the pitch receiving treatment when Kris Commons opened the scoring - returning to the action to receive a red card for a lunge on Emilio Izaguirre in the second half.
The sides meet again in Wednesday's Scottish Cup quarter-final replay and then for the fourth time in succession on Saturday in the Scottish Premiership - and McGowan insists he and his team-mates will rally around Dillon.
The Australian said: "I feel for Dillo. He got a bad injury in the first half and came back on then ends up getting sent off. It just seems these days that you can't just foul somebody and have a free-kick given. It always seems to be a yellow or red card.
I don't know why that happens - it's just one of those things. There has been a few harsh decisions against us but you can't make excuses and have to just take it on the chin.
"I haven't seen the tackle back yet to be fair so I would like to see it again. Sean has been a terrific player for us. He's the club captain so it was a big loss for us when he went off, not just as a player but we missed his leadership and encouragement too.
"But I don't think he will let this disappointment affect him too much. I expect him to bounce back quickly. If he doesn't then it is up to us as his team-mates to lift him up. We've got another huge game on Wednesday and if we win, it would arguably be better than Sunday's match."
United midfielder Paul Paton said: "Against Celtic, just some things don't seem to go for us. They scored both their goals when we were down to 10 men - the first with an injury and the second after the sending off.
"It looked like we should have had a penalty when Scott Brown went into Ryan Dow - but you will do well to get those kind of decisions against Celtic. We have known in the last week that nothing seems to go for us against Celtic.
"I don't know why that happens - it's just one of those things. There has been a few harsh decisions against us but you can't make excuses and have to just take it on the chin.
"We'll just look forward to Wednesday and hope things go our way."
