Referee Winter's bookings reviewed

Referee Brian Winter had to be talked out of resigning after his blunder at Tannadice at the weekend.

Winter allowed Steven Anderson to stay on the park despite showing the St Johnstone defender two yellow cards in Dundee United's 1-0 victory.

"I'm sure this is a blip for Brian and I have tried to reassure him of that," said head of referees Hugh Dallas.

"He cares so much about refereeing that he had to be talked out of walking away from it altogether."

Winter flashed a yellow card at Anderson after punishing the centre-back for a foul on David Goodwillie in the 73rd minute of the Scottish Premier League match.

But he failed to issue a red card after booking the same player for using his arm in an aerial challenge on Goodwillie in the 86th minute.

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The 41-year-old consulted with his fourth official and an assistant immediately after the second yellow card but Anderson remained in the game.

Winter's embarrassing mistake stemmed from the chaos that ensued after Anderson's first foul.

The Saints player angrily accused the grounded Goodwillie of diving, which sparked a melee that prompted Winter to show yellow cards to four other players, two from each side.

"I spoke with Brian after the game and he admitted that the mass confrontation after Anderson's initial caution had caused confusion," added Dallas.

Winter (right) consulted his assistant amid the confusion at Tannadice

"What happened was a mistake and an uncommon one at that, but Brian is a very experienced SPL referee and one who has built up the respect of players and managers throughout the league."

Following the bad-tempered match at Tannadice, United boss Peter Houston said: "There was an incident where five players were booked at once and I believe now that Steven was the first player to be shown a yellow.

"Brian might have made a mistake by not making a note of that but these things happen. I hope he is dealt with leniently because he's an honest guy and we all make mistakes."

St Johnstone manager Derek McInnes added: "It never affected the course of the game. I never thought when Steven went for his second challenge that it was going to be a red card.

"We can get bogged down in incidents and talking about simulation and bookings and red cards. We are here for the football and at the end of the day we lost 1-0.

"There are always going to be contentious decisions in derbies."

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