Dave Mackay the St Johnstone captain, insists there is no bad blood between him and Celtic's Derk Boerrigter after the Dutchman held up his hands and accepted a two-game suspension for diving to win a penalty at McDiarmid Park.
Mackay was sent off by the referee, John Beaton, for denying a goalscoring opportunity during the Perth side's 3-0 defeat by Celtic in the SPFL Premiership last week with Nir Biton scoring the crucial second goal from the resultant spot-kick.
However, video evidence showed clearly the defender had made no contact with Boerrigter inside the area and the former Ajax player has since agreed to take a two-match ban offered to him by the Scottish Football Association for simulation.
Mackay looks certain to be cleared by a tribunal tomorrow to play against Aberdeen this weekend and the 33-year-old claims he holds no bitterness towards Boerrigter in the wake of the controversial incident.
"I don't know the guy," said Mackay. "I have nothing against him. I have no bad feelings towards him. What's happened has happened. You just have to get on with it. It happens in many games and people don't get picked out.
"I got sent off. I am not concerned about what happens to Boerrigter, whether he gets banned or not. We are not playing Celtic in the two games he is banned from. I can see why the referee thought it was a penalty. They've looked at it and banned Boerrigter. That's their decision and I hope that means I'll get off, but nothing is guaranteed."
Mackay says he is more upset by Beaton's failure to award him a spot-kick following a challenge from Virgil van Dijk.
"I was more angry about the penalty I felt I should have been awarded because that would have given us a great opportunity to get right back into the game," he said. "We were 1-0 down when I was sent off and there were 15 minutes to go."
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