Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
ALERT
Rovers boss has a pop at refs after pair are ordered off
Photo: Colin Woodward
Brian Kerr admits he fears for the future of football after two red cards left Albion Rovers with a mountain to climb against Monklands rivals Airdrie.
Nine-man Rovers earned a point at the Excelsior Stadium – after both Jason Marr and Scott McLaughlin received their marching orders.
The Cliftonhill boss had to throw his game plan out of the window and believes that the match officials should show his players more leniency.
He questioned what football is coming to if the tackles were deemed worthy of a red card.
“We’ve felt this for a couple of weeks now – referees are giving us very few decisions,” Kerr told the Advertiser.
“It’s not just a one-off. We’ve had a few sent off and bookings that I’ve no idea where they’re coming from.
“I speak to the referees and they say it’s a dangerous challenge but if you win the ball it’s not the players fault somebody is running across him when he wins the ball.
“If you don’t win it that’s fair enough but to say it’s dangerous play because they’ve gone in with too much power – what are we putting the game into?”
On the 2-2 draw, Kerr said: “We’re probably the happier of the two camps because we did dig in. We weren’t happy to come away with nothing so we had a real go – and got the just rewards in the end.”
Kerr believes his side improved drastically after their first red card. He said: “When we go down to 10 men it gives them that wee bit between their teeth. It seemed to wake us up a bit.
“The first half, we let in two poor goals again and haven’t defended well.
“In the second half we were so much better. We even had the chances with Connor (Shields) to go on and win it.
“Overall we’re happy to get out with some kind of result after what has gone on.”