Aberdeen keeper Joe Lewis believes Funso Ojo did not receive enough protection from match officials at Tannadice.
Belgian midfielder Ojo was sent off by referee Bobby Madden following an altercation with a Dundee United supporter in his side’s 1-0 loss.
Police Scotland confirmed a 35-year-old man has been charged following the incident during the match at Tannadice and is expected to appear at Dundee Sheriff Court at a later date.
Dundee United had been reduced to 10 men just minutes prior to the incident with Ojo when Calum Butcher received a straight red for lashing out at Aberdeen striker Christian Ramirez.
Aberdeen boss Stephen Glass was also red carded by referee Madden in the tunnel at half-time.
Lewis said: “For me, I would like the referee to protect the player in that situation.
“He has not run into the crowd. He has found himself there from a natural bit of play.”
No explanation from referee Madden
Asked if there had been an explanation from referee Madden regarding the second yellow, and dismissal of Ojo, club captain Lewis said: “You don’t normally get an explanation from referees.”
The dismissal means Ojo is suspended for Sunday’s Premiership clash against Celtic at Parkhead.
Aberdeen cannot appeal the sending off as it was a second yellow card.
Lewis said: “You can’t appeal it.
“There are certain circumstances but I doubt we will be able to appeal that.
“We just need to get some boys back from injury.
“Lewis Ferguson will also be back from his suspension and we have a massive game on Sunday.”
Frustration at another defeat
Dundee United’s Butcher was red carded in the 42nd minute – with Ojo following him down the tunnel just three minutes later.
The Tannadice side edged a fiery derby with an 80th minute strike from Ian Harkes to condemn Aberdeen to a second successive defeat.
Aberdeen dropped to eight in the Premiership table and are now nine points behind Dundee United.
Lewis said: “It is so frustrating because they went down to 10 men.
“We had the whole second half to capitalise on that but then our sending off changed that.
“In between the middle of the pitch we were alright, not bad, had some good attacks. But the final ball wasn’t good enough.
“There was nothing of note from both teams to warrant a goal apart from a delivery from a corner which we don’t clear and they get a shot away which is the difference between the teams.
“It doesn’t matter what you do in terms of the middle of the pitch if you don’t do the bit at either end of the pitch and that’s what happened.
“Deano (Dean Campbell) slotted in at centre-half doing the best he could in an alien position. The back four in the second half was makeshift due to the bodies we’ve got.
“They still didn’t create much but we concede from a set-piece when it’s a poor delivery. That’s disappointing.”
Response needed at Celtic Park
The Dons now head to Celtic Park on Sunday to face the Premier Sports Cup finalists and Lewis knows there has to be an improvement from the display at Tannadice.
He said: “We’ve got a huge game on Sunday now and we need to look towards what we did when we had an excellent week against Hibs, Rangers and Hearts and get more of that in our game.
“We’ll dust ourselves down and look to put in a strong performance and do the ugly stuff as well which cost us. We’ll make sure we nail that down for Sunday.”
