BY KYLE GUNN

St Mirren midfielder Greg Tansey has blasted Hearts defender Clévid Dikamona, insisting he would never deliberately hurt a fellow player. 

The pair were involved in a challenge in last month’s Tynecastle draw, with the Saints man booked at the time. 

Despite having a conversation at full-time, in which Dikamona didn’t take exception to the incident, he then took to Twitter to tag the SPFL in a video of the tackle.

That move left Tansey seething with the former Aberdeen midfielder telling the Gazette: “If you slow anything down into what they slowed it down to, if you make any tackle into a still, it can look bad. If you watch it at normal speed, there is no way I am going for that sort of challenge. I have touched the ball before I’ve touched him. There is no way I’ve gone to do him – I would never try to injure an opponent. He is basically calling me a coward.

The Gazette: The challenge in question with Tansey only shown a yellow card at the timeThe challenge in question with Tansey only shown a yellow card at the time

“I spoke to him after the game and he was fine. I shook his hand and I told him I hoped he was ok. He said he was fine. The next thing I see he is tweeting the SPFL. He should just tweet me. I don’t get what he is personally getting out of tweeting the SPFL if he has got something to say to me, tweet me directly. It is almost a bit vindictive – he is trying to get me done. 

"We are not in a race with Hearts, I am not a Hibs player.


“If we were a direct opponent and both challenging four fourth place then I’d understand it – but we are not.”

The former Aberdeen man, who was baffled when he was cited, having been booked at the time of the incident. 

The 30-year-old says social media has its ups and downs but it certainly has worked against him this time, insisting that Twitter cannot set the precedent for a review into every challenge. 
 

"There is a bit of inconsistency there and surely in the rules if you get booked it has been dealt with it in that game," he continued. "That's how I understood the rules. You can't then deal with it because the referee said he has seen it. That's a downside of social media. It can be a very good thing and a bad thing.”

“The ref said there was nothing malicious in the tackle and it was booking. If he had a problem with me he should have said to me after the game and we would have sorted it out, I would have apologised and said there was no malice in it. If he then wanted to have his say after the game then he could have, no problem.”

READ MORE: St Mirren blow as Stephen McGinn to miss crunch matches

St Mirren travel to McDiarmid Park today to take on struggling St Johnstone. Kick-off 3pm.