YOKER Athletic player/manager Steven Reilly has blasted the refereeing decisions he insists cost his side three points in Saturday’s 5-2 defeat to Cumbernauld United at Holm Park.

Reilly’s side were reduced to nine men in the second half of the Super League First tie.

The Whe-Ho were 2-0 up and cruising after first half goals from Shaun Kelly and John Harvey. However with 25 minutes to go Jamie Carson was sent off for a last man challenge, the penalty was converted and Yoker faced an uphill task to hang on to their lead.

Cumbernauld then equalised before Stewart Sharkey saw red for the home side leaving them with nine men. With a two man deficit Cumbernauld went on to claim an unlikely comeback win.

Reilly was adamant neither of his players deserved to receive their marching orders.

He said: “We were going well up until the first sending off we had full control of the game. The referee’s two decisions have cost us, the first one he has sent off Jamie Carson when it wasn’t even a penalty.

“He has made a rash decision the referee, they score the penalty to make it 2-1 and they get a boost from that. The second one is a 50/50 with Stewart Sharkey and he sends Stewart off to put us down to nine men.

“I was disappointed in the referee, I let him know that at the end of the game. Everybody at the game knew the two decisions were harsh apart from him, he has cost us the game ultimately.

“I think we had a chance to grind out a draw or even win the game with 10 men but with nine you are really up against it.

“It’s put a bit of a dampener on the opening league results because we’ve had tough games since the start of the season and to have seven points from nine before Saturday was a good return.” The loss was Yoker’s first league defeat under Reilly who took over from John McAulay in the summer.

After impressive wins over Kilwinning Rangers and Blantyre Victoria either side of a draw with Rutherglen Glencairn, a win would’ve seen Yoker keep in touch with Clydebank and Kilsyth Rangers, who have both claimed maximum points thus far, ahead of the derby clash with Clydebank in the league a week on Saturday.

Reilly now turns his attention to Saturday’s trip to Aberdeen side Sunnybank in the first round of the Scottish Cup. He revealed he hopes to have some of his key players available after five missed Saturday’s clash, although the player/manager will remain in the dugout after picking up a calf injury.

He said: “I was injured for Saturday and I’ll probably be out for the Scottish Cup. I pulled up in the warm up, I battled through it against Blantyre when I probably should’ve come off in all honesty, I’ve done it a bit more damage, it could be a few weeks.

“We had five guys out altogether. We will have David Crerand and Richie Henry back, Greg Maitland should be back, he has a groin injury that we are trying to get sorted. Gary Arbuckle will probably be back for the Clydebank game.

“I don’t know too much about Sunnybank, I know they haven’t started too well in their league. But in the Scottish Cup anything can happen, I’ve done it before travelled up to these type of places and had difficult games.

“We certainly won’t be underestimating them that’s for sure.”