Victor Wanyama was sent off on his Dunfermline debut yesterday afternoon.
Neil Lennon took charge of his first game with the Pars away at Scott Brown's Ayr United.
It turned out to be a forgettable afternoon for the East End Park side as goals from Connor McLennan, Jamie Murphy and Ethan Walker helped Ayr to a 3-0 win.
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To make matters worse for Dunfermline, much-heralded new signing Wanyama was ordered off on his debut.
The midfielder came off the bench with just under half an hour to go, but by 84 minutes, was given his marching orders by referee Iain Sneddon.
Wanyama lost the ball on the edge of his penalty area and handled it away from the Ayr attacker. Sneddon adjudged the Kenyan to have denied a clear goalscoring opportunity via deliberate handball:
Scandalous red-card against Victor Wanyama. Pathetic decision from ref Iain Snedden. Wanyama nowhere near the last man & defender clearly covering behind him. Never an 'Obvious' goal scoring opportunity. Shocking decision - furious at that. pic.twitter.com/IA8tnQkdgY
— The Global Tablet of Jurisprudence (@gtj1247) March 29, 2025
Post-match, Lennon wasn't at all happy with Wanyama's red card, slamming the referee for his decision to send the Kenyan off.
He said: "Victor slipped, and his initial reaction was to reach out for it, but I thought we had Jeremiah there. I don’t think their guy would’ve been clean through.
"Listen, I’m not happy with the referee. I got booked for apparently contesting a decision where my player got flattened, and their guy remonstrates with the ref and still doesn’t get a card. It was a very strange performance from him.
"I knew Victor was rusty. He needs to get minutes into his legs as quickly as possible. Now he’ll have to do it with a lot of conditioning work and training with the squad and be ready for next week, hopefully."
Dunfermline face Livingston at home on Wednesday night as Lennon looks to get his first points on the board as boss.
