DIMITRI Papadopoulos was at the centre of a "diving" storm at Valley Parade on Saturday, with Bradford boss Nicky Law furious about his role in the dismissal of defender Mark Bower.

But angry Clarets boss Stan Ternent today hit back and said: "Nicky Law's comments were absolutely disgraceful, they were slanderous and he should apologise.

"His comments were those of a young, inexperienced manager talking about other teams when he should be concentrating on his own.

"He must be a very good manager if he has got time to talk about others, he should concentrate on his own.

"Dimi is not a diver, their manager was totally unprofessional and ridiculous. Dimi had a rough time with their defenders, they were like a flock of locusts around him.

"I took him off at half time in case he got sent off. The crowd was roaring and bawling and the way that Law and his assistant behaved during the game was nothing short of disgraceful.

"I should imagine that the fourth official will report them and if they carry on like that they will end up in sitting in the stand"

Bower was shown the yellow card twice by referee Mike Dean before the break, first for a challenge from behind and then for a challenge near the halfway line that ended with the Greece Under-21 international sprawling on the ground.

Law insisted he was not surprised by Bower's dismissal as he explained: "We had three scouting reports that said you can't go near the centre forward because he is diving all over the place.

"I wouldn't condone that from one of my players but he is not my player so it is not my job to say anything. But it is hard to win when it is nine against 12."

Papadopoulos, who was 21 on Friday, did not reappear for the second half after he had been mercilessly booed by the home fans who were clearly as unhappy as Law about his alleged antics.

It is not the first time that Papadopoulos has been accused of diving. Almost exactly a year ago Liverpool's England Under-21 goalkeeper Chris Kirkland accused him of going down too easily for the penalty that he won and then converted when Greece visited Ewood Park in a European Championship qualifier.

At the time Papadopoulos insisted: "I'm no diver," and he appeared to be supported by video evidence, as was the case at the weekend.

And despite the fact that he was the man who went down for the penalty against Millwall last Tuesday, Lions' boss Mark McGhee had no complaints as he admitted: "It was a clumsy challenge from Stuart Nethercott."

That said, the Millwall skipper did vent his anger towards Papadopoulos later in the game after he went down a couple of times.

Ternent is worried that the comments of Law will see Papadopoulos get a reputation that he is convinced he does not deserve.

"I know the lad and he is just not like that," he repeated. "The danger is he will get labelled and that is why the comments should be withdrawn."