VICTOR WANYAMA’S dream reunion with Neil Lennon turned into a nightmare against Scott Brown’s Ayr United at Somerset Park yesterday.
The former Celtic fans’ favourite was red-carded after just NINETEEN minutes of his debut for Dunfermline who crashed to a 3-0 loss.
Wanyama, who signed a short-term contract with his ex-Hoops boss in midweek, came off the substitutes’ bench in the 64th minute with his new side trailing by two goals.
The 33-year-old Kenyan midfielder, a free agent since leaving MLS club CF Montreal in January, was sent packing by referee Iain Sneddon after a deliberate handball.
Ethan Walker later added a third goal to complete a miserable day for Lenny who was also making his appearance as the struggling Fife outfit’s manager.
Dunfermline sit in ninth place in the Championship just six points above rock-bottom Airdrie.
DEBUT DISASTER…Victor Wanyama is about to receive a gesture of sympathy from Neil Lennon after seeing red in Dunfermline’s 3-0 loss to Scott Brown’s Ayr United.
Wanyama had been caught on the ball deep in his own half by Mark McKenzie. As experienced anchorman slipped, he nudged the ball away with his hand.
A furious Lennon insisted the former Celtic, Spurs and Southampton star hadn’t been last man with Jeremiah Chilokoa-Mullen offering cover.
The Irishman said: “Victor slipped and his initial reaction is 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.”
The Hoops legend, speaking to the Daily Record, continued: “I felt we should definitely have a penalty in the first-half.
“Connor Young is about to pull the trigger, he gets tapped. Everyone is telling me there’s definitely contact.
“There’s no fourth official to have a go at, so the linesman is the nearest one in my eyeline.
“Look, I’m not going to blame the referee for losing the game, but some of the decisions went against us.”
Wanyama will now be banned for the Pars’ home game against promotion-chasing Livingston on Tuesday.
Lennon, though, believes the player can still make a big contribution in the other five games of the run-in, starting with relegation play-off rivals Hamilton on Saturday.
He added: “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, hopefully, be ready for next week.
“It’s fantastic having him in. You can see he needs work, but it will come. He can still have a huge impact for us.”
At full-time, Lennon made straight for the home dug-out to congratulate his former Celtic skipper Brown who is also pushing his Ayr side towards a promotion spot.
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