DARREN TOO YOUNG FOR THE MAN'S GAME?

Darren Young, the Aberdeen midfielder, has been whinging in the press about the Celtic defender Bobo Balde's robust challenges in the Scottish Cup tie at Pittodrie on Monday night. Young, who was, ironically, booked for a foul on the giant defender, said:

"He had his arms up - as usual - but the referee didn't give anything so I grabbed Balde.

"He put his arm across my face as we ran across each other so I pulled it away. I thought it was a free kick. I've seen them given for things like that but it was just the way the referee interpreted it.

"The only thing the referee saw seems to be me grabbing him as he was running away so he gave the foul against me."

Young refused to comment when asked if he thought there was malice in Balde's challenge - which kind of defeats the point in complainging in the first place.

Young also sent Celtic striker Chris Sutton crashing to the floor with only minutes remaining of the game, but insists that the Celtic player fouled himself:

"With the incident involving Sutton there was nothing in it on my part. Anyone watching it on television would have been able to see that.

"He's followed through with his kick and booted me. He seems to have caught his knee as a result and that did the damage."

Given that Celtic play host to Aberdeen in the league on Saturday one would have thought that these remarks will only serve to stir up bad feelings between both sets of players and that Young would have been wiser to bite his tongue on this occasion.