SCOTT BROWN has criticised Kilmarnock midfielder Alan Power for his challenge on Celtic’s Jeremie Frimpong in the match between the sides on Wednesday, accusing him of picking on a young player and claiming he would have been sent off had he made such a tackle.
Power was not cautioned by referee Don Robertson for the challenge on Frimpong in the dying stages of Celtic’s win at Rugby Park, but Brown says he would fully expect to be ordered off for such an offence, accusing Power of knowing exactly what he was doing.
“If that’s me, I’m off,” Brown said. “Everyone surrounds the ref trying to get me sent off.
“His two feet are off the ground, I’ve seen it back. To be fair, he wins the ball, but I went to the SFA meeting and it’s reckless, there’s pace in the tackle and his two feet are off the ground. For me, he’s hit all three of them on the head.
“Five or six years ago you might get away with that and it’s a great tackle, but now the game is changing.
“You don’t want to see that and the lads getting injured, especially picking on a young lad like that. I think I get treated quite fairly, but if it was me, I’d expect to be off. If I lunged in recklessly then I know what I’m doing.
“You’re getting beat 3-1, you’ve lost the plot, and you are going to try to either smash somebody or try to get the lads going.
“It happens now and then, you lose the head, and I think you can see at the time he’s lost the head. He’s done it and he’s walked away from everyone thinking ‘oh no, what have I done here?’
“You would rather he came back and made sure everyone was alright, but I don’t think he’s even walked up to Jeremie or anything.”
Brown (left) is worried it may take a serious injury for referees to start clamping down on reckless challenges.
“The law is there to protect the players,” he said,
“It’s just waiting for someone to break a leg, because once it does then the player will be sent off and it will be ‘well done, you’ve done it’.”
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