Rutherglen Glencairn No.2 Joe Pryce says a decision to red card goalkeeper Matt McGinley was a “killer” in their 4-0 defeat against West of Scotland First Division leaders Kilbirnie Ladeside.
Pryce says Glencairn have no complaints about the penalty, or the result, but the only person who thought McGinley made no attempt to get the ball was referee Ross Birrell.
Ladeside were 1-0 up through a James Marks header, and McGinley pulled an attacker down as he clipped the ball past him, resulting in dismissal.
Owen McGinty netted from the penalty and added a third, with Chris Dallas heading in Kilbirnie’s fourth.
Pryce says there’s no point in appealing what he felt was a harsh dismissal, but says Scott Law comes in now in McGinley’s place.
He said: “The red card was at 1-0. We were quite fortunate to go in 1-0 down, because Kilbirnie had been by far the better side.
“We had a wee chat with the players at half-time, regrouped, and were starting to edge our way back into the game, and the penalty decision and the sending off was the real killer.
“We weren’t arguing about the penalty; our goalkeeper has come out, the striker has nipped the ball in front of him, but he made a genuine attempt to get the ball.
“The referee told us at the time that he felt Matt hadn’t made a genuine attempt to get the ball.
“But he was the only one in the stadium that thought that.
“So that set us back on our heels, 2-0 down and down to 10 men.
“When you’re going through a sticky spell like we are at the moment these types of things tend to go against you.”
Glens now have to pick themselves up for a trip to Blantyre Victoria this weekend.
Glens are currently 12th in the table and Pryce said: “We’ve just got to keep working, keep working hard, and we know we’ll come through it on the other side.
“We’ve got a good group of players here, they’re a great bunch to work with, our faith and trust in the players never wavers, so we trust them, we believe in them, and we know we’re going to come out the other side soon.
“Hopefully it happens this Saturday against Blantyre.”
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