Wanyama did not deserve red card on Dunfermline Athletic debut – Lennon

Photo Credit - Dunfermline Athletic.

Dunfermline Athletic coach Neil Lennon has defended Victor Wanyama after the former Harambee Stars midfielder was red carded on his debut.

The former Harambee Stars captain came on as a second-half substitute against Ayr United, entering the match in the 64th minute, but was sent off in the 85th minute as his side went on to suffer a 3-0 defeat.

The home side led 1-0 at the half-time break courtesy of Connor McLennan’s strike in the 43rd minute. Jamie Murphy added the second in the 68th minute before Ethan Walker scored in the stoppages to seal off the emphatic win.

Speaking after the game, Lennon was asked his thoughts on Wanyama red card by the club’s official website: “He slipped and his initial reaction is to reach out for it. But I thought we had a Jeremiah there, I didn’t think the guy would have been clean through. Listen, I’m not happy with the referee. I got booked today for apparently contesting the decision where my player got flattened and then the guy remonstrates with the referee and still didn’t get a card. Very, very strange performance from him. Like I said, I felt we definitely should have had a penalty in the first half.”

He continued: “Well, there’s no fourth official to have a go at. He’s the nearest one in my eye. I’m not going to blame the referee for losing the game today but I think some decisions went against us in big moments. Anyway, we have a lot of work to do. There’s a fragility about us that we need to work on very, very quickly and the young boys have to realise that this is a man’s game.”

On how Wanyama was feeling after the red card, Lennon said: “I know, I know. I knew he was rusty. We actually had a real good spell at 1-0 and the second goal, in the fashion of it as well but I thought Bene had a great game today, other than that. He needs to get minutes into his legs as quickly as possible. Now he’ll have to do a lot of conditioning work and training with the rest of the squad. He’ll be ready for next week, hopefully. I hope it’s just one game.”

“Yes, I mean, he’s given the boys… Its fantastic having him in, but you can see he needs work. That’ll come and you’re hoping we can have him for the remaining five games of the season, where he’ll have a huge impact for us.”

Wanyama will miss the next two league matches against Livingston and Hamilton due to the suspension as a result of the red card.