Keith Ward has described his controversial tangle with Shamrock Rovers' Aaron Greene as "two people who probably didn't want go into a tackle" but believes the referee was right to dismiss the Hoops midfielder in the Dublin derby.
Greene saw red in the first half of the Dalymount clash last week which the hosts went on to win 1-0 when Ward was nudged in the box by Ronan Finn.
Debate raged in the days after the game about the challenge, with 49% of over a thousand voters in an RTÉ Sport Twitter poll believing he deserved to walk. Of the rest, 23% felt it should have been a yellow while 17% said it was a fair challenge.
Greene said on Monday that Ward "nearly rolled out of the stadium", but the man himself is adamant it merited the red.
.@bfcdublin go top of the table after a third successive win, taking advantage of @shamrockrovers' ill-discipline in the Dublin Derby #soccrepublic #rtesoccer pic.twitter.com/WFFXl65oyy
— Soccer Republic (@SoccRepublic) February 26, 2019
"I've watched it back and I do feel a bit bad for Greener," Ward told the RTÉ Soccer Podcast.
"It is a coming together - it's not actually a tackle. I can see what he's trying to do. I know Greener, we've been playing together since we were kids, and it was probably two people who didn't want to go into a tackle!
"He came in to put his body in front of me and protect the ball but I got there ahead of him, and has he planted his foot... he has caught me. My shin and ankle were bruised. I do feel bad for him, but I think it was a sending-off."
Bohs followed up the derby won with a goalless draw against Waterford at the RSC. Keith Long's men are second in the table on goal difference behind Shamrock Rovers but with a game in hand. It's been a good start, but Ward is staying grounded.
The 28-year-old admits that Bohs - who won three and drew one of last season's Dublin derbies - were guilty of slumping after those high-octane clashes, a habit they're keen to kick.
"We came into the Waterford game confident enough, coming off the derby win," he said.
"It was tricky conditions with the weather and the pitch was heavy enough. It was our third game in a week so it was always going to be tough for both teams.
"When we won the derby we'd go two or three games without a win. It kind of has that thing of, 'oh we can only get up for the derby'"
"All in all I think a draw was a fair result. They're a big, physical team with Delaney, Kenny Browne, Rory Feely, Izzy up top, they can put balls in the box, Rory has a long throw. They've a lot of quality around the team and they can mix up their game.
"They can keep it and then they can go long. Waterford are a tam that will cause a lot of trouble this year.
"It kind of happened to us last year where, when we won the derby we'd go two or three games without a win. It kind of has that thing of, 'oh we can only get up for the derby'. We lost a lot of experience last year.
"Even the game we won 2-1, the Darragh Leahy goal, you want to enjoy them but we'd a game on the Monday. You come off a big win and training does be bouncing for a week, but we'd that game Monday which we lost and you're kind of back down then.
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"I'd love to be able to challenge for the top. We're not going to challenge for the league.... but we're a good honest side. We know what we are. If we turn up at 70 or 80% we're not good enough to beat teams. Trevor and Keith don't let us away with anything.
"I'd love to be in and around challenging for Europe at the end of the year, and the cup run last year was great."
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