Dundee 'disbelief' at controversial penalty call that denied crucial win over Ross County as Joe Shaughnessy injury latest revealed

The Courier

15-05-2025

Furious Tony Docherty was too angry to do post-match press duties after Ross County's 96th-minute penalty denied his Dundee side a crucial victory.
Scott Tiffoney's goal on 55 minutes looked to have earned the Dark Blues a win that would have guaranteed Premiership survival.
However, referee Nick Walsh pointed to the spot on 93 minutes after Ryan Astley's header flicked the outstretched arm of Antonio Portales in the area.
After a VAR check, Ronan Hale stepped up to keep the Staggies in with a chance of catching the Dark Blues on the final day of the season.
Seconds away from safety, Dundee were furious at the final whistle with a number of players earning yellow cards for dissent.
And instead of manager Docherty undertaking his usual post-match media duties, assistant manager Stuart Taylor stepped in.
Asked why he was in place for media duties, Taylor said: 'The manager gave the lads a great speech and got everyone ready for Sunday's game.
'I think it's a great talking point for everyone again after the last couple of weeks so there's no point me saying any more.
'The manager did chap the referee's door but I don't know what was said.
'There's confusion and disbelief among the players, but they're a great bunch of boys and they're robust.
'There have been a lot of things happened this season where they should be disappointed with decisions but they bounce back.
'It's about doing the talking on the pitch, that's the response we got at the end of the game there – we go again on Sunday.'
Clark Robertson was back in for Dundee after being dropped for the weekend defeat at Kilmarnock. His replacement at Rugby Park, Aaron Donnelly, dropped out of the squad altogether.
Seun Adewumi did enough as sub at Killie to earn a recall to the starting XI, taking Scott Tiffoney's place.
A win would secure safety for Dundee, a defeat didn't bear thinking about.
The high stakes seemed to bring the nerves out in the home side as Ross County started far brighter.
Set-pieces flew into the home box, Simon Murray doing more in front of his own goal than the opposition's as he cleared a number of corner kicks.
He did get one look at the other goal when he latched onto a short backpass but saw his effort from the tightest of angles cleared by Kacper Lopata.
Just as that seemed to have woken the hosts, Ross County had the best two chances of the half.
First Hale had the Dee backline backpedaling before seeing his deflected effort clip the top of Trevor Carson's crossbar. From the resulting corner, Akil Wright headed over from yards out.
Dundee gave out a big sigh of relief after that but would go on to finish the half the stronger.
A breakaway saw Adewumi set Seb Palmer-Houlden away before he brought a super save from Jordan Amissah, keeping his effort out of the top corner.
Shooting downhill toward the Bob Shankly Stand saw a moment of real quality turn the game Dundee's way.
Lyall Cameron brought that moment with a perfectly-weighted throughball in behind the County defence for Tiffoney.
The half-time sub showed composure to coolly slot the ball under Amissah, giving his side a crucial lead.
That perked up the home side and the County goalkeeper was certainly the busier of the two in the second period.
He denied Palmer-Houlden and then Joe Shaughnessy within seconds of each other with Dundee's skipper forced off due to a head knock in the process.
Amissah then turned a Clark Robertson header round the post and denied Murray late on.
Hale had a big chance for Ross County but fluffed his lines, blazing wide on 70 minutes.
The final few minutes were nervy but Dundee looked like they had seen out the worst of it.
Until ref Nick Walsh spotted the ball flick the arm of Portales.
VAR didn't overturn the decision and Hale made up for his earlier miss by smashing in the equaliser with 95 minutes on the clock.
With that leveller, Dundee's Premiership survival remains in the balance.
But Taylor insists the Dark Blues remain in a good position: 'It's in our hands at this moment in time, we're in a good position and if we take care of Sunday's game we'll be fine.
'Credit where it's due, the Ross County goalkeeper made some great saves.
'The positive for us is we asked the lads to be brave, be creative and they did that because we hemmed them in at times.'
Dundee had to cope without their skipper Joe Shaughnessy after he was forced off with a head knock on 64 minutes.
However, it's unlikely to keep him out for the now-crucial clash at St Johnstone on Sunday.
'Joe has a couple of stitches in his eye,' said Taylor.
'Joe is a leader, he's our captain, he's a warrior and he's ready to go again.
'He'll be fine.'