Red rage over ref's display

Published 28 Apr 2010 13:00 0 Comments

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Clydebank...................... 3

Rutherglen Glencairn....... 4

CLYDEBANK'S promotion hopes were dented after a poor refereeing performance saw two red cards dished out at Holm Park on Monday night.

Whistler Barry Cook sent off Paul Allum and Martin McInnes to give the home side a mountain to climb.

But despite a spirited second half performance, the nine men eventually succumbed to a late deflected winner.

Nikky Cairney opened the scoring for Clydebank with a fine finish from an excellent John Jack pass.

The goal came against the run of play, with Glencairn making most of the early running.

And it could have been two a minute later when Cairney squandered a great chance to notch his double after great work from Brian Smith and Chris Mackie.

Jack then gifted the visitors an opportunity to level the match when he pulled back Stephen O'Keane in the box for a penalty, which the Glens midfielder converted.

Within two minutes the visitors were ahead when John Harvey deflected a free-kick past Stefan Gonet for an unfortunate own goal.

It got worse for the Bankies when Paul Allum picked up a second yellow card for a push.

This incident more than any summed up the performance of referee Cook.

He hadn't realised he had already booked Allum and failed to issue a red card until his assistants brought it to his intention.

But in stoppage time at the end of the first half the 10 men levelled the match when McInnes fired home at the back post. Shortly after the break Stevie Dymock scored the goal of the game when his pace caused havoc in the Glens defence.

Bankies' joy was short-lived though as the visitors scored a fine equaliser through David Dickson moments later.

Enter referee Cook again with another questionable decision.

The whistler booked McInnes for the second time for an attempted tackle that was barely a free-kick, never mind a booking. The nine men could have taken the lead when Harvey fired a right foot shot just wide of Scott Black's goal but it wasn't to be.

The Glens winner came 14 minutes from time when Richie Burke's deflected shot fizzed past Gonet

Full marks go to the Bankies for their effort to salvage something from the game, but the major talking point from this match was the abject performance of the man in the middle.

Budgie McGhie's men hope to get back to winning ways when they travel to Kilsyth Rangers tonight (Wednesday) and Annbank on Saturday.

For a round up of Clydebank's last two matches, against Maybole and Arthurlie, turn to page 42.

This article appeared in Clydebank Post 28 Apr 10

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