HIBS star Ian Murray today revealed he'd been "stunned" by the reaction to his tackle which saw Aberdeen kid Fraser Fyvie carried off on a stretcher, insisting: "I never touched him."
Although assistant referee Keith Sorbie was only feet from the incident and saw nothing wrong with the challenge, Dons boss Mark McGhee described it as "over-robust" while Pittodrie midfielder Gary McDonald claimed Murray had "gone over the top."
Today, however, the 28-year-old mounted a stiff defence of his actions, adamant his tackle on the 16-year-old was hard but perfectly fair and insisted television evidence vindicated him.
And he confessed to being bemused by the suggestion from Aberdeen goalkeeper Jamie Langfield that he'd intentionally sought to inflict an injury on the youngster.
He said: "At the time I felt I hadn't touched him, to be honest. I looked at it again on the computer from behind, probably the best angle, you can see I clearly took the ball.
"The linesman was standing right in front of it, he had a perfect view and there wasn't anything to suggest it was a bad tackle. There was no-one more surprised than me to see him lying there.
"I fully expected him to get up and be fine then I realised he was hurt. To me it seemed as if he tried to jump over me and then landed awkwardly. I've done my ankle ligaments myself with no-one there and I know how sore it is.
"If someone tackled me like that I would be absolutely fine about it, no problem.
"I've been caught myself by a couple of perfect tackles and I've been done by a couple of nasty tackles. People generally know when you have gone out to hurt them, so does the crowd and the referee.
"There's tackles like the one I made on Saturday in training every day."
Although McGhee initially described Murray's tackle as "legitimate," he then claimed it had been "over-robust" and one the referee should have taken action on while McDonald insisted it was no worse than the challenge on Kevin McBride which earned Dons forward Chris Maguire a straight red card.
Maguire, booked in the first half for a swipe at Derek Riordan, was the second of two Aberdeen players to be sent off by rookie referee Steven Nicholls, Maurice Ross having been dismissed for a tackle on Murray having also been shown the yellow card earlier.
Murray hit back: "I have to say I am a little disappointed by the reaction. I'm a bit confused by what Mark McGhee said – the tackle was legitimate but was over-robust, what does that mean if you win the ball?
"McDonald said I'd gone over the top but I have never gone in to hurt someone. I've gone in hard to get the ball and I think the fans, the gaffer and myself would have been disappointed if I hadn't gone in whole-hearted.
"Aberdeen may have been down to nine men but there was always a chance they could nick a goal which would have been a disaster for us and I was determined to win the ball which I feel I did."
And Aberdeen are now facing a Scottish Football Association investigation after criticising the referee on their official website.
The statement from Dons suggested that Nicholls was like Hibs' 12th man.
The statement read: "At a time when it is very fashionable to lambast the game in this country, surely we should be doing everything in our power to prevent short-changing the group that matters most, the paying customers. Sadly, that was not the case at Easter Road.
"The referee seemed determined to stamp his authority with the inevitable scenario of five yellow cards by the interval and hardly a strong tackle made.
"When cards are being dished out like confetti, players become afraid to make tackles.
"Nine against 11 – perhaps make that 12 – for the best part of half an hour means an unequal situation and one that is cheating the fans.
"Thanks to the antics of the man in the middle, what began as a fair contest almost descended into farce."
