Lee Johnson angry over officials’ performance as Hibernian lose at Dundee United

Hibernian boss Lee Johnson was livid that his side had a Mykola Kukharevych goal chalked off in a 1-0 defeat at Dundee United and also claimed home striker Tony Watt should have been sent off during the Premiership clash.

The Edinburgh side’s four-game winning run came to an end thanks to a first-half strike from Aziz Behich.

However, Johnson was adamant that his side should have had a first-half goal of their own.

Johnson said: “I have really mixed emotions, there’s a bit of anger in there – anger with the officials for their performance.

“It is one hundred per cent a goal. The far side linesman was 150 per cent sure – that was what I was told – it was a shove by Elie Youan before it.

“We scored a goal that was chalked off, unbelievable.

“It was a night of fantastic goalkeeping and poor finishing, depending how you look at it.

“Tony Watt should have been sent off and booked three times but we will have to leave that to the SFA.

“Some of our play was superb.

“We had a lot of goalscorers on the pitch who couldn’t score goals and you would expect us to take two or three of those chances at least.

“I can’t be too displeased with the performance, on the data – percentile wise, it was a win, although it wasn’t.”

Behich scored the only goal of the game in the first half with the victory lifting the Tangerines off the bottom of the table on goal difference.

United head coach Liam Fox praised his players for remaining resilient in the face of relentless Hibs pressure.

He said: “It was eventful, it was end to end and plenty for people to talk about. But we came out with three points and that was the main concern, so I’m delighted.

“I was pleased with the resilience, Hibs are a very good side and they made us work tonight.

“The most pleasing thing for me was the desire and character. You can talk about formations but you need that desire too.

“We are delighted with the clean sheet, it’s a team effort – it’s about the team above the individual here.”