Aberdeen manager in Hibs red card claim as Stephen Robinson at odds with David Gray during referee assessment
David Gray called offence clear case of ‘violent conduct’ in game that saw Hibs defender Hanley sent off
Aberdeen boss Stephen Robinson admitted he feared the worst when referee David Dickinson was called for a pitch-side review of Emmanual Gyamfi’s swinging swipe at Hibs striker Owen Elding.
But the Dons gaffer has bizarrely claimed that even his Easter Road counterpart didn’t believe the attack was worthy of a red card. David Gray made it clear that he felt Gyamfi should have been sent off for a clear case of violent conduct. Putting him clearly at odds with Robinson.
Yet the former St Mirren manager made a claim post match, saying: “When they come over, you obviously expect the worst, don't you? But nobody on either bench thought it was a red card. They thought it was a free-kick at best. But on both benches we'd seen it back and we were amazed he was called over. So thankfully they've come to the right decision in the end.”
Robinson, who agreed that Grant Hanley deserved to be red carded for denying Toyosi Olusanya a goal scoring opportunity inside the opening 15 minutes, said: “Toyo is horrible to play against. He never gives up. He runs his socks off. He's got electric pace. Teams don't like playing against him. So we have to use that pace at times.
“I thought we were really patient today. We passed the ball well and moved it until we got the opportunities to put Toyo in and put Kevin Nisbet in.
“I’ve told my player to bottle the feeling because they haven’t won for a long time at home, I think it was the first win in the league since December and clean sheet since December. So you have to bottle that up and remember what that feels like. Remember how tired you feel after it. Because that's what it takes to win football matches.
“You have to run yourself into the ground. The quality shows when you do that. As I say, I thought we got some really, really good stuff today. Some really good one-touch movement between the midfield and forward players.
“And we have to build on that. We can't sit in our laurels and think, right, that's enough. That's a performance I expect from an Aberdeen football team. And we have to try and build on that. I still think we're under pressure. I don't ever relax. And we won't allow the players to do that.”