Motherwell 1-1 Dundee United

Aug 24 2008 Scott Mcdermott At Fir Park

RAGING Lee Wilkie branded Well striker Chris Porter a cheat last night and accused him of taking a dive to try to win a last-minute penalty.

The Dundee United skipper was reacting to claims by boss Mark McGhee that he had "assaulted" Porter in the dying seconds of a pulsating draw.

Wilkie was baffled by the Fir Park gaffer's take on the incident and insisted English hitman Porter - who had a spot-kick saved by Lukasz Zaluska half an hour earlier - took a desperate dive.

A penalty would have meant an almost certain clincher for the Steelmen who led through debut star John Sutton before Wilkie equalised.

But the big defender was relieved referee Dougie McDonald wasn't fooled by Porter's apparent play acting.

Wilkie said: "Never in a million years was that a penalty. He just fell down and I looked at the ref right away and he said 'I know'. "Porter knew it wasn't a penalty as well.

He collapsed and it was actually quite embarrassing. Football's still a contact sport and that is all that happened.

"I suppose he was just trying to get his team a penalty late on in the game."

But McGhee had a different view. He said: "From where I was it looked like a penalty. Wilkie appeared to assault Porter but Marc Fitzpatrick should have scored the rebound anyway."

Penalty or not United owed the point to Polish keeper Zaluska. He kept themin the match with a string of super stops including from Porter's penalty.

With Artur Boruc banned from Poland's next squad his mate on Tayside could be pushing to claim his jersey.

Wilkie believes Zaluska is well capable of playing at international level.

He said: "Lukasz is a great shot stopper and is improving all the time. It's only a matter of time before he's challenging for Poland.

"I know he's pals with Boruc but I'm sure he'd still love to take his place. If Boruc keeps getting into bother Lukasz' chance might come sooner than he thinks."

Both teams contributed to a cracking game, with United controlling the first half and Well pummelling them after the break.

Prince Buaben fired an early warning shot to McGhee's side in four minutes when his ferocious 30-yard strike had to be touched round the post by Graeme Smith.

Then Morgaro Gomis ghosted into the box and cracked the outside of the post with a volley.

But Well got their noses in front against the run of play. Paul Quinn's clever cross found Keith Lasley whose header across goal was perfect for new signing Sutton to nod home.

The lead didn't last long as the Arabs were level in the space of five minutes. Gomis' wonderful cross was right on the head of Wilkie and his downward header beat Smith from six yards.

After the re-start there was only one team in it. Porter wasted three chances to make it 2-1 before David Clarkson hit the bar when clean through. Their best chance came with the penalty after Garry Kenneth had upended Porter on the hour - but Well's No.9 couldn't find the back of the net.

McGhee's men were relentless in their pursuit of a winner and near the end Porter saw another effort fly past before he had a goal ruled out for offside.

The challenge from Wilkie late on was soft and Fitzpatrick ballooned the rebound over. Despite being under the cosh United might have won it at the death when Smith pulled off a phenomenal stop to deny Buaben from long range.

REF WATCH

DOUGIE McDONALD got off to a poor start when he changed his mind three times at a throw-in and didn't get much better as game wore on. Was pretty quick to get the book out as well when it started to get feisty. Not his best day but got penalty decision correct and wasn't fooled by Porter. Rating 5/10.

MATCH STATS

Shots on 4

Shots off 4

Fouls 4

Off side 18

Corners 7

Backeds 2

Shots on 3

Shots off 4

Fouls 5

Off side 15

Corners 6

Backeds 4